Nikki Bella’s name is more synonymous with wrestling than golf, but the WWE personality has long been hitting the links.
“My family, they’re all die-hard golfers, so I was always gifted golf clubs and outfits, and then I’d always do a few lessons,” Nikki, 38, told The Post on Wednesday. “I would do golf here and there, and I’ve always loved it, and every time I’d leave a tournament I would always be like, ‘I need to do this more,’ it’s just finding the time.”
Though Nikki has a jam-packed schedule these days, especially as a mom to 1-year-old son Matteo, whom she shares with her fiancé, “Dancing With the Stars” pro Artem Chigvintsev, she got to show off her swing in front of a star-studded crowd as part of Nickelodeon’s Slime Cup. The event, which will air on the network Saturday, features four teams competing on a “Nick-ified” golf course — with slime, obviously — and the final round taking place inside the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles.
With a field chock-full of talent, including Giants running back Saquon Barkley, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, pro golfers Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, and Lexi Thompson, among others, Nikki is grateful that she was able to call this year’s PGA Championship winner, Justin Thomas, her partner.
“Oh my gosh, watching him play, he’d make it look so easy,” Nikki said of Thomas, who logged his second major win in May. “You could tell a lot of people were in awe of him.”
Though Thomas is a competitor at heart — even on a slime-filled course — Nikki is excited for audiences to see some of the PGA Tour’s biggest names show a different side of themselves.
“It’s funny because we see these golfing guys in such a different kind of light, and then you’re going to put them in the Slime Cup, and you think every hole is Nick-ified and they have to do ridiculous things and it’s hilarious,” she said. “But they’d still be competitive with each other, just seeing how Collin and Justin were, no one wanted to lose.”
Regardless of the outcome, Nikki is already thinking of ways to invite Thomas to a future family golf tournament, particularly the Pop-Pop Classic, in honor of her grandfather.
“What I really hope one day to do is be like, ‘Hey Justin, my family’s playing golf do you want to be my partner?’ And just show up with him,” she said. “I never play it because my family is so good, so I’m hoping maybe next year I can somehow bribe Justin to be my partner for the Pop-Pop Classic.”
While golf is on Nikki’s mind at the moment, wrestling isn’t far away. In 2019, Nikki — who makes up the Bella Twins with sister Brie — announced her retirement. Although the duo returned for the Royal Rumble earlier this year, Nikki said she’d be open to a possible final run with Brie, who shares two young children with her husband, AEW wrestler Bryan Danielson.
“We do have the hopes of one day going back and challenging whoever are the tag-team champions and I don’t know when that day would be, but Brie and I definitely talk about that one day for sure. We have one last run in us and we want to go back and compete for that,” she said.
The Nickelodeon Slime Cup airs Saturday at 8 p.m.