Nikki Bella Makes Surprise Return to WWE During 2025 Royal Rumble

Nikki Bella made her surprise return to WWE during the 2025 women’s Royal Rumble match. 

Bella, 41, was the 30th and final entrant in the over the top rope battle royal at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, February 1. 

The wrestler entered the ring wearing her iconic outfit featuring her backwards red hat. Once in the ring, Nikki joined forces with her fellow wrestlers in an attempt to throw Australian-born Nia Jax out of the ring. (To no avail —  Jax threw nine wrestlers off of her at one time, as one does.)

Nia ultimately eliminated Nikki, before Charlotte Flair took the crown as the 2025 Royal Rumble champion and secured herself a ticket to this year’s Wrestlemania in Las Vegas, Nevada

The match marked Bella’s first in-ring appearance since she was a surprise entrant in the 2022 women’s Royal Rumble match. She and her twin sister, Brie, officially retired from full-time wrestling action in 2019.

However, Nikki recently told Us Weekly that she was itching to get back inside the squared circle after making an appearance at WWE Raw’s debut on Netflix on January 6. 

“I’ve missed it for quite a few years,” Nikki said in an interview published Wednesday, January 29. “I miss being Nikki Bella. I miss being around that family. I definitely miss being in that ring. When they put me in the crowd that night and to feel the energy and see the Bella Army, whether they were in the crowd or online, it starts to give you these feels.”

Nikki added, “Going home to WWE, I don’t think people understand, I started at 22. That’s all I ever knew up until a little bit ago. So, that’s been the biggest home for me and to go back and be home and the environment there is so incredible. The women were just, what a great locker room. They were just so awesome and together and one and unity and everyone back there was just so happy. You could tell the energy there right now is just incredible.”

When Nikki was ringside for the Netflix debut earlier this month, she explained how it gave her an appreciation for the glass ceilings she and Brie were able to break.

“I’m like, ‘This is why we paved roads in this industry,’” Nikki gushed. “I feel so blessed to go back and experience it. I’m like, ‘OK, I think I need to experience this more.’ I really love it. I feel like I’ve still got it, so we’ll see.”

Nikki even hinted that she might be able to convince her sister to join her in the ring again soon.

“When I went and I came back, I was like, ‘Brie, it’s so amazing,’” Nikki said. “So maybe we should make a comeback. She’s so in mom mode, but Brie has that fire in her, too. She has that last run. I feel like it wouldn’t take a lot to get her to come back with me.”

Brie and husband Bryan Danielson, a former WWE star who is currently on the All Elite Wrestling roster, share two kids: daughter Birdie, 7, and son Buddy, 4.

Nikki shares son Matteo, 4, with her ex husband, Artem Chigvintsev. 

While she’s focused on being a “great mom,” Nikki is excited to show her son that she doesn’t fit into one box. 

“[I want to] also show my son how amazing it is that women can do all these incredible things,” she said, “whether that’s kicking butt in the ring, running a boardroom, being amazing at school.”