Brie Bella, the twin sister of Nikki Bella, is a former WWE Diva and a current WWE Ambassador. After having a nearly decade-long career with the WWE, Brie had called it quits and left the company.
Brie’s departure came as a surprise to a lot of people in the WWE Universe, however, she had very justifiable reasons for doing the same.
Brie Bella, whose real name is Brianna Monique Danielson (previously Garcia-Colace) first joined the WWE along with her twin sister Nikki Bella in 2007 when they were signed by the company following an appearance by the sisters on the 2006 WWE Diva Search.
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The sisters were put into WWE’s developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) where their tag team would be named “The Bella Twins”
Brie would go on to subsequently make her main roster debut on SmackDown in 2008. She became embroiled in several angles and feuds over the next few years in the WWE and even won the WWE Divas Championship in 2011.
Also read: 5 things you didn’t know about The Bella Twins
In 2016, Brie Bella announced via an interview on WWE’s official website that she had taken an indefinite hiatus from the WWE after WrestleMania 32.
The 10-Diva tag team match that she participated in at WrestleMania 32 had the team of Brie Bella, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Paige and Eva Marie going up against Lana, Naomi, Tamina, Summer Rae and Emma.
The match was held on the WrestleMania 32 kickoff show and saw Brie Bella taking the win for her team when she submitted Naomi. Bella had stated that the match was her “last match” for a while and left the WWE. The video below features a Total Bellas segment on Brie’s last match in the WWE:
The reason that Brie Bella gave for leaving the WWE was her intention to start a family with her husband Daniel Bryan. Bryan and Brie got married in 2014 and had decided that it was time for them to have children together. For this reason, Brie had to give up professional wrestling.
An additional reason that Brie gave in her official interview for her departure, was the fact that Daniel Bryan had been forced into retirement from professional wrestling due to his medical issues. Brie felt that things just weren’t the same for her without Bryan and that it had made the decision to leave the WWE easier for her.
She was quoted as saying:
“I think, too, something that just made me know everything was happening for a reason and in the right place was when he (referring to Daniel Bryan) was forced to retire, having to move on and start a new chapter in his life.
It just made me realize like it's time for me to start a new chapter with him. It's time for both of us to start the next stage of our lives, which is parenthood.
I felt like that just sent this light bulb going off in my head, saying, ‘Okay, it's time. We definitely need to start trying.’”
Brie Bella has also gone on record since to state that while the WrestleMania 32 match was definitely her “last match”, it shouldn’t be considered her last match “forever”, as she might return to the WWE in the future. On the subject of her eventual return, Brie was quoted as saying:
“I just don't know the timing of it. I don't know if it will be a year and a half, two years or three years. So, it feels like a retirement. At the same time, I'm just not going to close that door.”
Brie and Bryan have since gone on to successfully start their family with their first daughter, Birdie Joe Danielson, having been born on 9th May 2017. Brie is currently busy with her maternal responsibilities and has made no mention of a return to the WWE yet.
Despite the change in her priorities, Brie Bella still serves as an Ambassador for the WWE and also makes regular appearances on the Total Bellas and Total Divas, shows that are produced by the WWE.
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