Nikki Bella WWE

The Latest On WWE Hall Of Famer Nikki Bella Amid Her Brief Absence

Originally posted on Wrestling on SI | By Rick Ucchino | Last updated Oct 16, 2025 7:00 PM ET

It's been several weeks since Nikki Bella has appeared on Monday Night Raw, and some fans are wondering why the WWE Hall of Famer has been off of television.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select held an open Q&A with subscribers this week ,and he was asked whether Bella's return run had quietly ended. Good news for the Bella Army, that does not appear to be the case.

"The last I'd heard she would be around here and there," Ross Sapp said in his response to one Fightful Select subscriber. "I don't think there were any real plans for her in Australia so there wasn't a great need to have her around for the build to that. They expect Nikki to be on the show for a while from everything that I've heard."

Ross Sapp also noted that the expectation was for fellow WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus to appear on WWE programming more this year, but she has recently been dealing with the loss of her mother.

The last time anyone saw Nikki Bella on Raw, she was mixing it up backstage with the likes of Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY and The Kabuki Warriors.

Her most recent match was against Asuka on the September 8 edition of WWE's flagship show, which was some of Bella's best in-ring work since she first ended her three-year hiatus at the Royal Rumble.

Nikki Bella wants to earn her spot in WWE

WWE

Nikki Bella spoke to The TakeDown on SI back in August as she was preparing to wrestle Becky Lynch for the Women's Intercontinental Championship at WWE Clash in Paris.

She said then that her latest run in WWE had less to do with nostalgia, and more to do with wanting to prove she can still perform at a high level, while also doing whatever she can to help the women's division overall. She also certainly made it seem like she was back for the long haul.

"Why can't women my age do it too? Why does it always have to be for one big PLE? We come in for a few weeks and then we're gone. Why can't we come in for a while and see how I can hang with the younger era? I'm not here to take spots, I'm here for anything to help the people that we need to make."

Bella, who is now 41 years old, has wrestled three singles matches so far this year, with her only victory coming against Chelsea Green. There's no word yet on when she might return to WWE Raw or what her creative direction will be once she is back in the mix.

This article first appeared on Wrestling on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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