It took a year longer than it should have, but the Bella Twins are officially WWE Hall of Famers.
Nikki & Brie Bella were set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2020, but the ceremony was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The twins entered the Hall of Fame on April 6 as both the classes of 2020 and 2021 were inducted.
Though the Bellas thanked a variety of people in their speech, including John Cena, as per the WWE Hall of Fame mandate, they weren't allowed to thank top executives in WWE. Fortunately for the Bellas, they have their own podcast and can thank anyone they'd like.
"There are some people we didn't thank because 'you're not allowed to thank them,' which I get, but The McMahon family. We're not allowed to thank you at the Hall of Fame, but we're going to thank you on our podcast because we can. Thank you Stephanie for the storyline we did together. I learned so much from you during that time and so much about the business, characters, stories, everything," said Brie on the Bellas Podcast.
Nikki added about Stephanie McMahon, "I agree with you on Stephanie. I'm so grateful that I got to work with Stephanie because she truly empowered me. I cut the best promo of my career with Stephanie. I remember being so nervous, I had just turned on Brie at SummerSlam and on Raw I was about to have my first live promo on why I did it. I was so nervous because I wanted it to be perfect. Stephanie looked at me before I went out and was like, 'You know this story. Go out there and tell this story in your own words. You know what this story is and how you want it to be portrayed.' Being out there with Stephanie, and her presence, and her advice, she made me feel the most comfortable in the ring and brought out the best in me."
The twins went on to say that people don't understand how much pressure is on Stephanie as a top executive in a male-dominated industry and having to carry the McMahon name.
They went on to thank Vince McMahon as well.
"If it wasn't for him, obviously, the Bella Twins would've never had a career. The one thing Nikki and I were used to growing up were being on a competitive sports team and used to coaches who gave us constructive criticism and worked us hard, but at the same time showed compassion. That's one thing I love about Vince. He doesn't hold back, he lets you know what he wants and how it's going to be done and he always helped us grow," said Brie.
Nikki added, "We've always had someone who has been brutally honest to us and to each other. It always helped us be better and you want that from someone in business because it makes you better. Thank you, Vince."
Finally, the twins thanked executive producer Kevin Dunn. Brie started by saying that Dunn gave them their opportunity in reality television.
Nikki continued by saying, "Beyond that, he believed in us before reality TV and believed in us since day one and saw something in us. He's given us great advice and his belief in us made us work harder. There were times he would compliment us, because there aren't a lot of compliments in our industry so when you would get stopped by someone in a high position and they'd give you a compliment, you couldn't help but feel amazing. He was one of those people."
Both praised Dunn for helping them secure roles on Total Divas and his work on Total Bellas.
As far as who they wanted to induct them, the Bellas said they wanted a member of the Bella Army to do the induction speech, which caught WWE off guard as they figured the twins would pick a wrestler or someone mainstream. They said they were torn between asking Brie's husband Daniel Bryan or Jake from the Bella Army.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the ceremony, there were no inductors at the Hall of Fame.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
