Today’s Rumor Roundup indicated that Nikki Bella was hurt in The Bella Twins victory over Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss on SmackDown this past Friday (March 27), and apparently the WWE Hall of Famer wasn’t the only women’s star who left Pittsburgh with aches and pains worth mentioning.
First, more on Nikki. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that Bella “tweaked her ankle in a brawl with Nia Jax” after her SmackDown match when Jax, her Irresistible Forces and co-champ partner Lash Legend,
Flair and Bliss, and eventually Bayley and Lyra Valkyria all fought post-match. Nikki “was limping pretty bad, and ended up just going outside and never got back in the ring.” Then, was “being tended to by the doctor” when the babyface teams held the ring after driving off the champs. Meltzer’s expanded report reiterated the Observer’s earlier one that Bella is “fine, they claim.”
That’s good news, as WWE does seem to be heading toward a 4-team Women’s Tag title match at WrestleMania 42 in just three weeks time. Signs seem to indicate Giulia could be in a multi-person championship bout herself on April 18 or 19, with Tiffany Stratton and others gunning for her Women’s United States championship. But per the Observer, in a since-deleted Instagram Giulia’s trainer said “peeing a lot” wasn’t the worst thing that happened to the champ in her match with Stratton last Friday.
Over the weekend, trainer Matthew Ennis wrote (emphasis ours):
Giulia came into her session today very banged up from her [match] last Friday on SmackDown. Normally, this would be our full lower body day, but today was not a good day for that because she was in so much pain. Low back pain, knee pain, hip pain, shoulders, you name it. So instead of sticking to a rigid plan, we adapted today on the fly, and the goal is just simply to have her walk out of the gym feeling better. Thankfully, through a full-body activation, mobility, stretching circuit, we were able to achieve that goal. And now we’ll be more prepared to push harder tomorrow, and that’s a big thing for pro wrestlers—depending on how your body feels, you may need to adjust the workout for the day.
While we’re assuming by the deletion that Ennis regrets his post, it ultimately sounds like he did his job. For active wrestlers, “banged up” is often the norm. Even if he wasn’t reporting a good outcome from their session, just that Giulia was working with her personal trainer and not a WWE medical team member indicates she’s likely fine. That no specific issue or need for time off was mentioned should further alleviate concern.
Here’s hoping Nikki Bella and Giulia recover to whatever full health feels like for them these days, no further changes to WrestleMania 42 are necessary, and this is the last we hear of this.
