Brie Bella has identified her postpartum comeback to WWE as the biggest regret of her career, explaining she returned to the ring before she felt physically or mentally prepared. On The Nikki & Brie Show, she stated that pressure from both WWE and the filming of their reality shows, Total Divas and Total Bellas, was a major factor in the decision.
This reflection on a difficult past experience comes as her sister, Nikki Bella, is actively campaigning for another Brie Bella run in the company.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Nikki revealed she believes WWE is becoming “more and more open” to the idea, despite the long-standing obstacle of Brie’s husband, Bryan Danielson, being contracted to AEW. Brie herself referred to Danielson’s employment as a “roadblock” to a WWE return back in July.
“I keep pushing it,” Nikki said. “All the women want her back and they keep asking me every week has that decision changed.” She added, “I don’t think legacies should be determined on spouses, but I also understand business.”
The previous return in question occurred when Brie was between seven and ten months postpartum with her first child. She attributed her decision to go through with it to a “people pleaser” mentality that developed while filming their shows.
“I guess a huge regret was the way I felt like I needed to come back when after, I mean, I was what seven months postpartum, maybe at that time, maybe 10, and I think as we were filming both reality shows, they were really pushing me to be like, get back in the ring,” Brie explained. “Let’s do like a Brie comeback, but I did not feel ready and I kind of just let everyone plan everything for me.”
She elaborated on feeling a sense of duty to the production and the people around her, which caused her to ignore her own readiness.
“For so long, I did everything for everyone, especially when we were filming the reality show,” Brie said. “I felt obligated. Almost like I owed everyone something, so if someone asks something of me, I just did it without thinking like, ‘Do I want to? Am I ready?’ I never thought about myself.”