WWE announced on Smackdown that Nikki and Brie Bella – The Bella Twins – will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2020, joining so far The nWo and Batista.
The twins started working for WWE when they signed a developmental deal in 2007 after both were part of the Diva Search contest that year but neither of them won. After spending a year with FCW, they made their main roster debut in 2008. Their gimmick was that Brie would wrestle and then half-way during the match she would roll under the ring and Nikki would come out and continue the match, winning. The whole shtick lasted around three months until their plan was uncovered by Natalya and Victoria who at the time were feuding with Brie.
Both Nikki and Brie went from Raw to ECW and back to Raw in different drafts in the late 2000s and really found their footing in 2011 when Brie was the first one to grab the Divas title and then Nikki won it a year later. The duo left in mid-2012 but returned to the promotion a year later feuding with The Funkadactlys and AJ Lee. They eventually also feuded with each other and remained a major part of the women’s division for several years until they both retired from in-ring competition.
The popularity of the two led to the creation of the Total Divas show and later got their own spinoff Total Bellas. Brie ended up marrying Daniel Bryan while Nikki had a long and complicated relationship with John Cena. That led to an in-ring proposal at WrestleMania 32 but the couple decided to call it quits after disagreements over having children.
Both Bellas are now pregnant, with Brie expecting her second child with Bryan and Nikki her first with her fiancée Artem Chigvintsev.
During their time in WWE, Brie Bella won the Divas title once and Nikki won it twice. Nikki also headlined the first-ever all-women’s pay-per-view Evolution with Ronda Rousey. Both Twins were part of the first women’s Royal Rumble in 2018 as well. Nikki is also the longest-reigning Divas champion in WWE history.
