Nikki Bella Thinks WWE Didn't Take Her Neck Injury Seriously Because She's A Woman
She was almost paralysed...
Since announcing their retirement from in-ring action, The Bella Twins have been keeping busy and released their autobiography Incomparable earlier this week.
Within the book, Nikki Bella discussed a myriad of topics, including Ronda Rousey's debut at the 2018 Royal Rumble and her relationship with John Cena. The longest-reigning Divas Champion in WWE history also wrote about her neck injury which ultimately forced her to retire.
Nikki explained her neck issues started to worsen in 2015 because her C6 and C7 vertebrae were pushed against her spinal cord. This caused her to lose feeling in her legs while wrestling and she couldn't lie down in bed for longer than a few hours. She did ask WWE for an MRI but was told by a doctor backstage that they wouldn't find anything.
Bella penned: "I asked for an MRI, but they told me that it wouldn't show anything. They had no answer when I explained that my legs were going numb and giving out on me in matches, that I could only lie down in bed for a few hours at a time. Finally I had an MRI. I was in Austin, Texas, and I was backstage. A doctor came up to me to say: 'Just so you know, we're not going to find anything.' I would have given anything for that to be true."
The future WWE Hall Of Famer added that WWE only booked the MRI after she texted someone in WWE asking: "Is it because I'm a woman that I don’t get the same treatment as the male Superstars?"
Then, after she had the MRI, the doctor told her she was about to break her neck in half from wrestling and was "on the cusp of being paralysed."
"I was really frustrated because I felt like if I were a male Superstar, I'd be getting radically different treatment instead of being instructed to just sit at home and pray," Nikki added.