The Bella Twins, Brie and Nikki, announced their retirement from in-ring action in 2019. They later surprised fans by appearing at the 2022 Royal Rumble, only to confirm they'd fully parted ways with WWE the next 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 this past January.
There were immediate rumblings about a possible WWE return following that cameo, and Nikki later entered the 30-women Royal Rumble match as a surprise participant. She definitely still had "it," and we've since heard (from the multi-time Women's Champion) that there are plans for her to wrestle again for the company.
WrestleMania came and went without a match for Nikki, but with the Evolution 2 PLE fast approaching on Sunday, July 13, it appears creative plans for her are finally taking shape.
WWE has announced that Nikki will make her return tonight, during the June 9 edition of RAW. The news broke during Saturday's Money in the Bank PLE, but was largely overshadowed by confirmation that next year's WrestleMania will indeed be held in Las Vegas (again).
Your guess is as good as ours when it comes to who Nikki will face, especially on RAW. There are plenty of exciting possibilities, but Women's World Champion IYO SKY doesn't feel like the right fit. We'll see.
Talking at the post-show press conference for Money in the Bank, Triple H said this of Evolution 2:
"I wanted to do Evolution 2 since Evolution 1. Probably even before we did it, I was trying to figure out how to do Evolution 2. For a lot of different reasons, the timing wasn’t right. Now it is. I’m thrilled to be able to do it again. The truth is, as amazing as the women in our business were then, it’s grown exponentially."
"The biggest trick we’ll have is how do we build that card out and have that many women and fit as many people into that card. Everyone is going to want to be a part of it, and we want to make sure everybody gets to do something. That will be the trickiest part."
"What’s awesome for us is the demand for it. Across the fanbase, people have been asking for it, and the opportunity for us to give it to them now. We keep things quiet a lot. When talent first start to catch wind of, ‘We’re doing Evolution again?’ You see that gleam in their eye and their excitement about it, it’s awesome."
"Now, they’re just chomping at the bit to get there and figure out what that is and what it’s going to be. They’re looking to kill it and make a statement."
"A lot of these women watched the first one and for them, while they thought about being on Raw and SmackDown and dream about WrestleMania, I’m sure a lot of those women were like, ‘If they did another [Evolution], that would be incredible,’ and here we are. I can’t wait to build that platform and watch them crush it. It’s what they do every time."