WWE: Nikki Bella on Her WWE Return & Online Criticisms Over IYO SKY Saying She Paved Way for Women’s Division, Bianca Belair Broken Finger Injury Update, Goldberg Reportedly Planned to Make WWE Return on 6/16 RAW Show

Nikki Bella Comments on Her WWE Return & Online Criticisms Over IYO SKY Saying She Paved Way for Women’s Division

This past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Phoenix, Arizona featured WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella making a return appearance in WWE.

PEOPLE held a recent interview with Bella. One of the topics discussed included Bella’s thoughts about her recent return appearance and how she will be sticking around for a bit in WWE.

“You’ll definitely see me for a bit. It’s not a quick in and out.”

In a recent episode of The Nikki & Brie Show podcast, Bella gave her thoughts about the online criticisms she received over comments made by WWE Women’s World Champion IYO SKY on the show saying that she was the one who paved the way for the Women’s division in WWE.

“But Brie (Bella), it was just amazing, and you know, I have to say, I meant what I said last night about just being so proud of this women’s division. I did some media right before this and I was kind of saying the same to them but you know, on here, we could elaborate a little bit more. Impact means so many different things, right? And breaking barriers. It’s not just about a moveset in the ring. It’s about using your voice, it’s about fighting for what’s right, it’s about breaking barriers and it’s hard I think for a certain crowd on the internet to understand that. They’ll hear about you paving a way because you know somebody will make comments when IYO SKY said that to me… But, what they don’t realize is paving the road isn’t just about doing moves and what happened in the ring. It’s also what happened outside of the ring and what it’s done for women’s wrestling as a whole and I get for some of the young people — or some of the ignorant men. Let’s just be honest. I don’t even give a sh*t. They don’t get it. Because they’re just thinking moveset and they’re thinking wins and championships. They don’t think of the overall picture and majority of the time it’s because they’re not a woman. They’ve never had to fight for what we’ve had to fight for. Not only are they not a woman, they’re not a WWE superstar. So they don’t understand it, right? But, so a road paved is women that did so much more than that because they were fighting to do more of that moveset, more of what happens in the ring so there had to be a huge fight outside of it. That’s why, you know, when I said last night — and you’ll get this and a lot of people will — it’s amazing to see women pick up your blood, sweat and tears, hold on to that — and I’m talking not just me, not just you, every woman from the past, right? That fought for women — take that and make something bigger with it because that’s what you want and that is what these women right now are doing. From their athletic ability and what they are doing in that ring and beyond it. They have a lot of impact outside of it and so, I meant every word I said last night and being so proud and so grateful because there is an insane amount of talent in that locker room.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Bianca Belair Broken Finger Injury Status & Return Plans Update

As noted before, Bianca Belair has been out of action for WWE since this past April’s WrestleMania 41 Night 2 event due to a broken finger injury.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials are currently hopeful that Belair will be able to return in time for this August’s SummerSlam 2025 event.

Johnson reported that Belair’s injury caused WWE officials to make a significant change in their plans for a major storyline in the Women’s division. These changes reportedly involved WWE’s creative team having to “re-calibrate” their plans for Belair’s involvement in the feud between Naomi and Jade Cargill. Belair reportedly was originally planned to be a key figure for the storyline but her injury required her to be written off television for her recovery instead.

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Goldberg Retirement Match Plans Update – Goldberg Reportedly Planned to Make WWE Return Next Week

As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg has been preparation and training for a retirement match in WWE for his wrestling career that is currently planned to take place at the July 12th WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event show in Atlanta, Georgia.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Goldberg is currently scheduled to appear at next week’s WWE RAW show on June 16th in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Johnson reported that Goldberg is currently expected to be featured regular on the RAW brand in the week’s leading up to his rumored retirement match at this July’s Saturday Night’s Main Event show in Atlanta.

Johnson reported that Goldberg’s opponent for his planned retirement currently remain unconfirmed but he likely will be feuding with Gunther. Those spoken to reportedly stated that WWE officials had internal discussions about Goldberg making a surprise appearance at this past Monday’s RAW show to be potentially tied to Gunther’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship victory. WWE officials dropped the idea in favor of having his upcoming return take place on next week’s show instead.