When last we checked in on Nikki Bella’s quest to capture the Mirrorball trophy during season 25 of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, The Fearless One looked like she might be on the ropes. After a couple weeks of low judges scores, there was some question whether even John Cena’s support would save her from the next round of elimination.
Thankfully, the Bella Army came through in voting, and Nikki advanced to next week (sorry, Derek Fisher! At least this was probably more fun than coaching the Knicks).
Her fortunes are looking up for next Monday’s show, too. That’s because for this week’s theme of “Most Memorable Year”, Bella tapped into her 2016 comeback from neck surgery. The story of proving the doubters wrong - including some members of the roster who were hesitant to work with Nikki out of fear she might get hurt in the ring - and returning at SummerSlam inspired the contemporary dance with partner Artem Chigvintsev you can watch in the above video.
The judges liked it a lot. All three gave it a score of 8, and the combined 24 is Bella’s best result so far on the show.
So, that’s great! Less great is that all the remaining competitors had a good week. There were five other couples who scored 24s. Three acts had better results and, with Fisher’s elimination, only one with a lower score.
It’ll be up to her fans to help ensure Nikki doesn’t get lost in the shuffle and fights her way on to another week the same way she fought her way back to the WWE ring.
Good thing she’s a fighter...
She is a fighter! You can't keep her down!
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 10, 2017
Nikki @BellaTwins & @artemchigvintse! @DancingABC #DWTS @WWE #MostMemorableYear pic.twitter.com/dqe0FFacoT
COME ON NIKKI!