Nikki and BrieBella Expose the Stigma They Faced from Brands for Being Pro Wrestlers

Nikki and Brie Bella, better known to WWE fans as The Bella Twins, may be household names now—but behind the scenes, they had to claw their way into mainstream respect.

On a recent episode of The Nikki and Brie Show on SiriusXM, the WWE Hall of Famers opened up about the discrimination they faced from brands and media outlets who didn’t take them seriously because of their wrestling backgrounds.

Nikki revealed how some fashion brands flat-out refused to work with them based on nothing more than the stigma attached to being a pro wrestler.

“It was crazy how like certain stylists wouldn’t dress us because they were like, ‘Oh, they’re pro wrestlers,’ or there were certain brands that wouldn’t lend us clothes because they were like, ‘Well, we don’t dress pro wrestlers.’ We really had to fight hard in that world to show them that there was so much more to female pro wrestlers, that we weren’t just what they saw in the ring.”

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Brie didn’t hold back either, calling out the hypocrisy of media outlets that dismissed them—but still tried to exploit their wrestling personas for entertainment.

“They would be like that, but then they would realize pro wrestlers, their charisma and how loud we are, but they’re like in a segment then would want us to like body slam someone or do a suplex. It was like one minute, you know.”

Nikki also addressed how many brands preach about supporting strong women—but behind the scenes, they weren’t walking the walk.

“A lot of brands kind of use like, ‘We love strong women and women empowerment,’ but you realize they were just using it as marketing. They really didn’t actually want strong empowering women… when it came to actually using the girls that were that, it was like, ‘Oh, wait, wait, we really don’t want them to be that strong.’”

The twins credit their reality shows, Total Divas and Total Bellas, with helping to smash those barriers by showing their full, unfiltered lives.

“We showed them how women can kick ass. We could go do a sport that’s dominated by males, but then we could go be moms, we could go be career women… we can handle it all.”

Nikki and Brie aren’t slowing down, either. The pair recently launched Pro Wrestling Nation 24/7, a full-time SiriusXM channel dedicated to pro wrestling content, adding to their growing media empire.

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