The Bella Twins — Brie and Nikki — announced their retirement from the WWE, and revealed they are no longer going by their stage names. The newly-named ‘Garcia Twins’ posted a video on Instagram of themselves walking through a door and captioned it, “Welcome to our next chapter!”
On an episode of their podcast “The Nikki and Brie Show,” the twins shared that going forward they are officially going to use their birth names, Nikki and Brie Garcia. Nikki Garcia said on the show “Today, we are officially from here on out the Garcia twins … We’re mothers, we’re entrepreneurs. We’re executive producers. We’re starring now, we’re hosting shows. And when our contracts came up with WWE, mutually we all knew we just needed to head into this new chapter.”
The Garcia twins (whose full birth surname is Garcia-Colace), signed with the WWE in 2007, and said they wanted to thank the characters they played in the ring because the characters helped them get to where they are going in life. Brie Garcia said: “I just want to thank Brie Bella. Brie Bella, the character that — the name, all of it. That I have been the last, you know, pretty much almost, I don’t know, 16, 17 years. I am so excited to close that chapter on Brie Bella. Put that book to the side and open up a new one and see what Brie Garcia’s going to do next.” Nikki Garcia added, “And I am so beyond grateful for Nikki Bella — Nikki Bella, whoa. She empowered me. She inspired me. She truly made me become fearless and the road that she has paved and what she’s done for women and the youth and will continue to do just as Nikki Garcia.”
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