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Hey, look who's back in WWE. It's the Bella twins!
It may not be as good as sleeping with a McMahon, but being on the receiving end of the five fingers of doom is clearly the next best thing. Not that Daniel Bryan doesn't have any leverage with the Stamford brass, but c'mon, when you're John Cena's main squeeze, the door is always open.
Yet part of me feels like it shouldn't have to be that way.
True, I made a cheap joke about them not finding any work without "the boys" backing them, but the reality is that Nikki and Brie's departure was very telling about how THIS BUSINESS can take its toll, both personally and professionally, on its talent.
From Diva-Dirt:
Nikki: "Brie and I just decided that we needed a little bit of a break. When you've been on the road for five years, haven't seen your bed for five days straight, we kind of came to a point like, maybe we can rest our bodies for a little bit. It might not be permanent. You guys might see us soon, you may not. We just knew that we definitely needed to take a break."
Brie: "With any career you're in, there's always a life outside of your career and that's one thing when you're on the road 300 days of the year, you start missing your family, you miss your friends, you miss all the things you enjoy in life like going to the movies, museums. It's something that Nikki and I are really looking forward to in the next couple of months."
I think most of us are aware of the industry pitfalls, but probably try to ignore them. If you think long and hard about the life of a professional wrestler, it's easy to see why so many of them succumb to drugs and alcohol or even worse, death itself. Only the toughest of the tough, both physically and mentally, can escape unscathed.
It's a pretty tall order to entertain day in and day out and when you have a crazed egomaniac for a boss, it's not hard to wake up every day and wonder, "Gee, how am I going to fail today?" That's why every superstar should work like teachers, in nine-month blocks.
Just like a real job when you break up the shifts so your employees don't get burned out.
Why do we pop so hard for returning wrestlers? Because we haven't seen them in months and absence makes the heart grow fonder. Regrettably, that usually only happens if someone tears a quad or gets sent to rehab when instead they should be sent on vacation.
It keeps the storylines fresh but more importantly, it keeps the wrestlers fresh.
When I took the family to Disney over Christmas break, the day before I left, I was so sick of writing (I've penned a staggering 11,589 articles in my four-plus years with SB Nation), I wanted to take a dump on my keyboard and bury it in the sand.
Then, something unexpected happened.
During my time away, I became inspired to write again. I kinda missed it, actually, and upon my return several days later, I was recharged and ready to kick some ass. Based on what the Bellas said just after they opted not to re-sign their WWE contracts, perhaps they shared a similar experience.
Brie: "It's funny, already two weeks gone [since leaving] and it's crazy how much we miss being at WWE, so you never know [what might happen]. But we're going to enjoy those things we loved outside of wrestling."
Nikki: "It's really sad because WWE, that was our life for six years straight. The people there are our family -- those are my brothers and sisters there. I've only been gone for two weeks, it should be a fun vacation but I've actually missed a lot of people there. It's a lot of laughs, let me tell you. There's nothing better than being with that group 24/7."
Of course, getting a few extra bucks doesn't hurt, either.
Whether or not the time off from the rigors of being a WWE Diva will reinvigorate the Bella Twins, remains to be seen. But if they were able to recharge their batteries and come back with a renewed sense of purpose (and with any luck, creative direction), then I would ask the powers that be to look long and hard at that formula.