The Bella Twins, Brie and Nikki, announced their retirement from in-ring action in 2019. They later made a surprise appearance in the 2022 Royal Rumble, only to confirm they'd fully parted ways with WWE the following year.
For a time, there were thought to be some hard feelings between the twins and WWE, and both women immediately started using their real name, "Garcia," for outside projects. Most fans thought that was it for WWE and the Garcia Twins, only for Nikki to show up in the crowd during the first RAW on Netflix back in January.
There were immediate rumblings about a possible WWE return following that cameo and Nikki entered last month's 30-women Royal Rumble match as a surprise participant. She definitely still had "it" and we've since heard there are plans for her to wrestle again for the company.
The hope had been that Nikki might be involved in the Road to WrestleMania, though it doesn't look overly likely as we write this.
Despite that, the former Divas Champion confirmed on the newest episode of The Nikki & Brie Show that while she will eventually return to WWE, the company has yet to tell her when or where it's going to happen.
"Well, I agree. It made, I mean, we were talking. I had so many ideas because I know at one point, I will be going back to WWE to do something, right? I don’t know when, I don’t know the story, but it’s going to happen, and watching [Queen of the Ring], it made me feel like what I did when I broke my neck."
"I had moments of like, 'No, this isn’t going to be career ending, I’m going to come back,' and the thing is is I come back differently, but [Mildred Burke] also had a massive knee injury, but seeing how she overcame, especially that last match that they showed in the movie, it just made me feel so many things of, you know, her age, being a mom, the mental ability and I was like, 'See, I can do this, and you could do it with anyone.'"
"It’s mind over matter. Maybe you don’t look like who the world champion is, or maybe you’re not the age of this new person that everyone’s looking at, but that doesn’t mean what you can do and conquer and achieve is over because when it’s the mind, and you can push it in that way, you can conquer anything."
"You can become a world champion at this age if you want. Whatever the age may be. You may have less muscles than this person, but you still can become a world champion at any age."
We'll have to wait and see what happens with Nikki, but Women's United States Champion Chelsea Green has repeatedly expressed an interest in squaring off with Nikki, possibly as soon as the Show of Shows next month.
Again, it's unclear whether WWE wants her back for a one-off match or a full-blown program. While the Bella Twins are in the WWE Hall of Fame, Nikki's achievements have made her worth of a single induction in the eyes of many, so this could lead to that as well.
Stay tuned for details as we have them.