Nikki Bella, now known as Nikki Garcia, former Divas Champion in WWE, reflected on the possibility of joining AEW earlier this year. Despite retiring in 2019 due to neck injuries, which shortened her career, and having made sporadic appearances in the Royal Rumble since then, she seriously considered returning to the ring and signing with AEW.
During the “Nikki & Brie Show” (as cited by Fightful), Nikki revealed that she almost returned to Pro-Wrestling after watching Mercedes Moné's AEW debut. She admitted that she almost contacted Tony Khan about joining AEW after watching the premiere. However, she chose not to do so, deciding to continue playing a greater role in raising her son.
"Since we started training hard, we always said, we always started to have that fighting mentality, 'Let's go back and make this story and cut this promo.' You understand, but I got so serious to the point where I was like, 'Okay, I think I can do maybe a year in AEW and do this every week.' When I saw Mercedes [Moné] debut and cut her promo, that line stuck with me, 'Here, let's make it global evolution.
And I thought, 'They do.' This extends to many leagues, is what she meant, it doesn't have to be in one place. It could be in all these places where all these women are struggling. I said, 'Brie, I think I can do this for a year. I can do it from here to there and go every week.
So, I thought about Matteo. I had a good week thinking, 'This is it. I'll call Tony Khan. I'm your girl. I commit.' But then, I thought, 'I can't do this to my son right now. He needs me.'”
