Brie Bella is opening up about her brief return to singles action on WWE television.
Bella competed in her first singles match since returning to WWE on the July 3 episode of WWE SmackDown, where she came up short against Fatal Influence member Lainey Reid.
The bout lasted just over three minutes and marked Bella’s first singles match since 2018.
Speaking on The Nikki & Brie Show (see video below), Bella admitted she had been hoping for a longer opportunity after pushing for a singles match for quite some time. While she was disappointed by the limited time, she acknowledged that SmackDown’s recent move back to a two-hour format has forced WWE to condense segments and matches.
“I’ve been wanting it forever. So when I finally was like, ‘Oh, I get a singles match,’ I was super excited. When I heard the times, I was bummed,” Bella said. “But also I understand, SmackDown is back to two hours. It’ll be two hours until January. So all of a sudden, when you have all these storylines going on SmackDown and it’s a three-hour show, and then boom, you get cut down to two hours, you’re back to fighting for TV time, and, you know, they’re going to condense a lot of stuff.
“So a part of me understood it. I mean, obviously, I won’t lie … I was bummed. So for me, this is how I look at it, is that they tried to get a bunch of stuff in. And obviously, I’m always grateful to be on the card.”
Despite the short outing, Bella said she focused on making the most of the opportunity and felt she succeeded in leaving fans wanting more. She also revealed that she joked backstage with her tag team partner, Paige, that if anyone was going to receive less time, it made sense for it to be someone from WWE’s Divas era.
Although she wished the match had been longer, Bella said she has chosen to focus on the positives and remain grateful for every opportunity she receives both in and out of the ring. She added that her mindset is to give her best regardless of the circumstances.
“I’ll admit, even when I heard my time before I got to the building, I was like, I was pissed,” Bella said. “But then I was like, ‘You know what, Brie?’ Look what I get to do for a living.”
Brie Bella is currently one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions alongside Paige, where the two perform weekly on the blue brand on WWE SmackDown every Friday night.
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