Nikki Bella
Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace, also known by the stage names Nikki Bella and Nikki Garcia, is an American professional wrestler and television personality. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand.
In 2007, Garcia signed with WWE and was assigned to the developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling alongside her twin sister Brianna, who went by Brie, forming the duo The Bella Twins. She made her debut for the SmackDown brand in 2008. She is a two-time WWE Divas Champion with her second reign of 301 days being the longest reign for the now defunct title. She and Brie were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021 as The Bella Twins. Also during her time in WWE, she starred in the reality TV series, Total Divas, and she and Brie got their own spin-off, Total Bellas. In her last few years in WWE, she only made sporadic appearances, but acted as an ambassador for the company. After her contract with WWE expired in 2023, Nikki and Brie retired the "Bella" surname and returned to their legal maiden name of "Garcia" professionally, reintroducing themselves as The Garcia Twins. Nikki reverted to the Bella name in 2025 upon returning to WWE at that year's Royal Rumble event.
Garcia ranked No. 1 in Pro Wrestling Illustrateds Female 50 in November 2015, and was named Diva of the Year by Rolling Stone in December 2015. She also won the award for Choice Female Athlete alongside her sister at the Teen Choice Awards in 2016.
Early life
Born sixteen minutes before her twin sister, Brianna, to parents Jon Garcia and Kathy Colace, Garcia-Colace was born in San Diego, California, and raised on a farm in Phoenix, Arizona. She is also a native of Scottsdale, Arizona. She is of Italian and Mexican descent. Keen soccer enthusiasts, she along with her twin sister played for the Scottsdale club in elementary school. She graduated from Chaparral High School in 2002. She then returned to San Diego for college where she played soccer for Grossmont College, but relocated to Los Angeles a year later, where she worked as a waitress at the Mondrian Hotel while trying to find an agent.She made her first national TV appearance on the Fox reality show Meet My Folks. Following this appearance, the Garcia twins were hired to be the World Cup Twins for Budweiser and were photographed holding the World Cup trophy. They were contestants in the 2006 "International Body Doubles twins search" and later participated in the 2006 WWE Diva Search, but they did not make the cut.
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2007–2012)
Florida Championship Wrestling (2007–2008)
Nicole was signed to a developmental contract with her sister by World Wrestling Entertainment in June 2007 and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE's then-developmental territory, in Tampa, Florida. At a FCW house show on September 15, 2007, Nicole and her twin Brie, called The Bella Twins, made their in-ring debut by defeating Nattie Neidhart and Krissy Vaine with Victoria Crawford as the special guest referee. She quickly started a scripted rivalry with Neidhart and Crawford, competing in a series of matches against them throughout October 2007. As a part of their on-screen personas, she and Brie would switch places behind the referee's back if one of them was hurt. She also occasionally competed in mixed tag team matches, teaming with male wrestlers including Kofi Kingston and Robert Anthony. She also made some non-wrestling appearances on Heath Miller's Happy Hour promo segment.Starting in December 2007, she managed Derrick Linkin, however, the storyline was cut short when Linkin was released in January 2008. She and Brie then resumed their feud with Neidhart and Crawford, wrestling them throughout much of 2008. After Neidhart was called up to the WWE roster in April 2008, Milena Roucka took her place in the feud. Nikki also competed in bikini contests, and wrestled against other competitors including Katie Lea Burchill and Daisy. Nikki's last FCW appearance was on September 2, when she competed in a Divas battle royal won by Miss Angela.
The Bella Twins (2008–2011)
On the August 29, 2008, episode of SmackDown, Brianna debuted as Brie Bella, defeating Victoria. She quickly began a scripted rivalry with Victoria and Victoria's accomplice, Natalya, and had a series of matches against them. In each match, Brie would roll out of the ring and go underneath it, emerging and appearing revived, and then win the match. On the October 31 episode of SmackDown, when Brie went under the ring, Victoria grabbed her legs, but a second pair of legs kicked her off, implying that a second person was under the ring. The following week on SmackDown, Brie defeated Victoria and then ran under the ring to escape Natalya and Victoria, but Victoria and Natalya both reached for Brie under the ring, resulting in both Nicole and Brie being pulled out. The twins then attacked them and celebrated afterward. Nicole was then introduced as Nikki Bella, and the twins had their first official match as a team on the November 21 episode of SmackDown, defeating Victoria and Natalya. They continued competing in tag team matches over the following months.Starting in November, the twins developed an on-screen relationship with The Colóns, appearing in numerous backstage segments with them, and accompanying them to the ring. In February 2009, the storyline expanded to include John Morrison and The Miz, who flirted with the Bellas and took them on a date for Valentine's Day. The date provoked a rivalry between the teams of The Miz and Morrison and Primo and Carlito, with the four competing for the affection of the twins, who were seemingly unable to choose between them. On the March 17 episode of ECW, Carlito and Primo, aiming for Morrison and The Miz, accidentally spat apples in the face of Brie. Nikki began to laugh at Brie's misfortune, and a fight broke out between the two, which led to Nikki leaving with The Miz and Morrison, while Brie stayed with Primo and Carlito, with Nikki turning heel in the process. Brie won her first match over Nikki in a six-person intergender tag team match on SmackDown the following week. On the March 31 episode of ECW, Nikki pinned Brie in their first singles match against each other after a distraction from Morrison and The Miz.
On April 15, 2009, The Bella Twins were both drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 supplemental draft. On April 27, Brie made her Raw in-ring debut in an eight-Diva tag team match, which her team won. Nikki also made an appearance, reuniting with her twin as she was under the ring to help Brie during the match, turning face in the process. Nikki then made her in-ring debut for the brand the following month in a battle royal, but was eliminated by Beth Phoenix.
On June 29, 2009, they were both traded to the ECW brand. They debuted on ECW the following night as special guests on The Abraham Washington Show. They developed a storyline feud with Katie Lea Burchill, when Nikki defeated her in a match by switching places with Brie behind the referee's back. The following week on Superstars, Brie defeated Burchill in similar fashion, and the feud ended in September when Nikki defeated Burchill on Superstars.
On October 12, the Bellas were traded back to Raw as part of a tri-branded Divas trade, where they predominately appeared in backstage segments with the weekly guest stars and only occasionally competed in matches. On the January 4, 2010, episode of Raw, Brie participated in a tournament for the vacant WWE Divas Championship, but lost to Maryse in the first round, when a switch resulted in Nikki being pinned. In June 2010, they developed a feud with Jillian Hall, when Brie defeated her after switching places with Nikki. The following week, Nikki defeated Hall after switching with Brie. The feud was exacerbated when the Bellas acted as the special guest referees during one of Hall's matches. During the match, Hall attacked both twins, but lost the match when Nikki made a fast count, allowing her to be pinned by Gail Kim. The next week on Superstars, the twins defeated Hall and Maryse in a tag team match to end the storyline.
In 2010, the Bella Twins took part of the all-female third season of NXT, mentoring Jamie. Jamie was the first rookie Diva eliminated on the October 5 episode of NXT. In November, the twins began a storyline with Daniel Bryan, when Brie accompanied him to the ring for his match. Following his win, Nikki ran out and the two fought over Bryan's affection, until Bryan broke it up and had them hug each other. They began to manage Bryan and frequently accompanied him to the ring over the next two months. In January 2011, both Bellas turned into villainous characters for the first time in their careers, when they discovered Bryan kissing Gail Kim backstage and assaulted her. They continued to attack Kim, both at the Royal Rumble and on Raw, and on February 7, they teamed with Melina in a losing effort to Kim, Eve Torres, and Tamina.
Divas Champion and departure (2011–2012)
The Bellas began feuding with Eve Torres after they appeared as lumberjills during a Divas Championship match between Torres and Natalya on the February 14 episode of Raw. Following the match, they attacked Torres backstage before Gail Kim and Natalya stopped them. The next week, the twins defeated Torres and Kim in a tag team match. The following week, Nikki won a battle royal to become the number one contender for the Divas Championship, and unsuccessfully challenged Torres for the championship on March 7. On April 11, Nikki helped Brie defeat Torres to win the Divas Championship, marking the first time either twin had held a championship in WWE. Nikki helped Brie once again, this time to successfully defend the championship against Kelly Kelly at Over the Limit, after switching places with Brie. However, Brie lost the championship against Kelly on a special "Power to the People" episode of Raw on June 20, ending her reign at 70 days, and failing to regain it on July 17, in a rematch against Kelly at Money in the Bank.The twins spent the majority of the rest of the year in tag team matches, regularly facing Kelly and Torres. The Bellas began to show friction for the second time since joining WWE in March 2012, after both twins lost to AJ Lee in singles competition. After Brie's match with Lee, Nikki revealed that Brie was rooting for Team Johnny in the 12-man tag team match at WrestleMania XXVIII, whilst Nikki was rooting for Team Teddy, thus furthering their dissension.
On the April 6 episode of SmackDown, Nikki defeated then Divas Champion Beth Phoenix in a non-title match, after Kelly Kelly distracted Phoenix. On April 23, Nikki defeated Phoenix in a lumberjill match on Raw to win the Divas Championship for the first time. Brie lost Nikki's championship to Layla at Extreme Rules after Twin Magic failed, ending her Divas Championship reign after only a week. The following night on Raw, they competed in their last match with the WWE, failing to win back the Divas Championship from Layla in a triple threat match. Later that night, the twins were fired by Executive Administrator Eve Torres.