Continuing on with her one – sometimes two – women media tour discussing the ups and downs of her WWE career, Nikki Bella made a relatively surprising appearance on Renee Paquette's The Sessions podcast to give a peak behind the curtain across enemy lines.

Speaking with the AEW personality about her career, her family, and her sister, Bella discussed how The Bella Twins were perceived by WWE fans and E! fans alike during her in-ring career and how appearing on Total Divas and eventually Total Bellas helped to empower her even when Vince McMahon wasn't looking to give the sisters a strong push on TV.

“I remember one time, Triple H saying, ‘perception is reality in this reality,' so we can perceive people however we want,” Bella said via Fightful. “I think that's what has happened to Brie and I. At that time, they made people believe so much that Brie and I only care about reality TV, we were only there because of our men. They were super cool and doing amazing things as well. I know AJ (Lee) spoke about it in her book, and I think she's regretted a lot, because that could have been a time when we could have empowered women even more and created more change. That was still a fight and that locker room was really difficult. A lot women can speak about that. That was a time when I saw so many women with their heads down, and I was like, ‘I'm going to fight real hard for this.' I didn't have to come back with reality cameras, I already had them with E!. I chose to come back to make sure we showcased women's wrestling because I thought what women were doing was so badass and they weren't being appreciated for it. Honestly, Total Divas should have been praised even more, I felt, because what we were doing was, we were literally almost at the point of beating the Kardashians in ratings. We were shaking the world up. What a great time. We could have had the industry behind us. Instead, they used it to turn it against us. That was really shocking to me. I was like, ‘we're making great change for women's wresting, why are you hating on it?'”

Now at this point, why “traditional” WWE fans hated The Bellas is pretty well documented; unlike performers like AJ Lee and Paige who seemed to be in the business for the “right” reasons, old-school fans disliked how all of the external stuff like Total Divas gave the gals a stronger push than they “deserved.” Still, even those folks now have to admit that, with the help of hindsight, Total Divas did make great changes for Women's Wrestling and helped to transition the company from the Divas-era to the “Women's Revolution.” Does that happen without The Bellas? Maybe, maybe not, but the duo and their cohorts certainly proved that there are fans who like female wrestlers for their wrestling, not just their backstage goings-on.

Winning 2013 Divas of the Year was a watershed moment for Nikki Bella.

Discussing the matter further, Bella noted that when she and her sister won the 2013 Diva of the Year, it actually made “the boss” – read: Vince McMahon” angry because he wasn't trying to get them over at the time.

“I felt like, as far as the boss, it was the first time he lost control of what he could make and not make,” Bella said. “When Brie and I won Diva of the Year (in 2013), we got in trouble and we got yelled at. I remember, we came back so happy, and it was, ‘Oh, because you brought in all these new viewers and the women are now voting for you and all these new women are here.' [Jaw] on the floor. Everyone around was on the floor like, ‘The Bella Twins are getting yelled at for being successful.' It wasn't what they wanted. They were the storytellers. They push who they want the crowd to be behind, just perception is reality. That is WWE to a T. Even though the fans think they own it, no, they laugh in the back, ‘we own you' at the end of the day. I truly believe Total Divas was the first thing they couldn't control. They couldn't control the success. They couldn't control mainstream. There was no control. That was hard on one side, because they lost that. Then, I think, everyone backstage thought we were going to fail. I don't like to use the word envy or jealousy, but I think there was a bit. We all kind of get that.”

Unfortunately, Bella is correct; as fans in Montreal learned all too well, no amount of cheering is going to change WWE's mind when it comes to booking, even if they wish it were so. Still, without Total Divas, do we get all of the other avenues from which WWE Superstars, and wrestlers in general, can get themselves over organically, from Youtube/Twitch, to social media, and even Fantime pages, unless, of course, that got Mandy Rose fired? Needless to say, WWE has the least power they've had in years when it comes to building stars, and The Bellas played a big role in making that a reality.