Nikki Bella’s recent SmackDown appearance looked effortless on TV, but backstage she was scrambling to keep her gear looking perfect while waiting underneath the ring for her cue.
Speaking on The Nikki & Brie Show, Nikki shared a funny behind-the-scenes story about what happened before she made her entrance. Because she was wearing a latex outfit, she wanted to make sure it stayed shiny, which led to her lying under the ring with a bottle of lubricant while waiting to go out.
“You know what’s funny is, you know, I came out from underneath the ring. I’m literally under the ring, Brie, with the lube because, you know, I’m wearing latex. I am laying on my back, lubing up my outfit.”
When Brie wondered why she always seems to end up in bizarre situations, Nikki explained she had a good reason for it: “Well, I wanted it to be shiny and nice.” It wasn’t exactly a relaxing wait, either. Nikki said she was trying to coat every part of the outfit while constantly asking production how much time she had before making her entrance.
“You would actually probably would’ve made—told the guy. I was like, ‘When? When? What’s the time?’ Like, trying to give me the countdown, ’cause I’m, like, lubing, trying to get every section.”
She also learned the hard way that applying the lubricant beforehand wasn’t enough because the latex dried out much faster than she expected.
“Because those outfits, I realized, like, I lubed before I shot my backstage. And the lube just loves it. It just goes, dries up real quick. So anyways, I had to take it with me.”
Later in the podcast, the conversation returned to life underneath the ring, and Nikki admitted WWE’s setup today is far nicer than fans probably imagine: “It’s, like, feels like luxury.” She explained that the area is clean, padded and even comes with a pillow, plus a monitor that lets wrestlers watch the show while they wait for their cue.
“It’s so clean. They have a pillow for you in case you need it to rest your head. But it’s very clean. You have a very clean mat. Like, it’s wow. Your TV, your—it’s unlike us where we are, like, going over storage tables, storage. It’s not like that.”
The monitor let Nikki keep up with everything happening in the arena, and she said it was fun watching everyone’s entrances before it was finally her turn.
“You get to watch everyone’s entrance, and it’s so cool. Just everyone had such a great entrance. I was sitting there like, ‘Oh.’”
She also revealed something fans never get to experience from home. While waiting underneath the ring, she could actually hear wrestlers calling spots and talking to each other during their matches.
“And then it’s so weird because when they flip in, you know, like, it’s going like, yeah, boom, boom. And during their match I could hear everyone, like, talking.”
It’s a side of WWE fans rarely hear about. While everyone else was watching the show from the arena or at home, Nikki was underneath the ring with a bottle of lube, a pillow, and a front-row seat to everything happening above her.
What’s the most surprising backstage WWE fact you’ve heard? Let us know in the comments below.
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