WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella recently spoke with WZ editorialist Mark Madden on his 105.9 in Pittsburgh show. The two discussed AJ Lee’s WWE return, the 30-second RAW match that led to “#GiveDivasAChance” trending and more.

On AJ Lee’s comments about Divas pay:

“We’re all here because we’re living our dreams. Whether it’s two minutes or twenty minutes on TV, I’m beyond grateful for that, because there are millions of people that wish they could get two minutes in that ring, and they can’t, so I’m not going to be one to b—h about it. But do I think Divas should definitely get more time on TV? 100%. But do I think pay is different? No.”

On Divas not having the star power to make money like John Cena, Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar:

“Let me put it this way: if a Diva was to headline a show, would those seats sell out like it does when John Cena’s headlining? Roman Reigns? Brock Lesnar? Absolutely not. We’re not there yet. We’re trying to get there, but we’re not there yet. As far as merch goes, we all get the same percentage, so I don’t know why anyone’s crying about it. We all make the exact same percentage, so it’s like, sell more merch if you wanna be like the guys. At the end of the day, we’re in a man’s world. People show up to watch men wrestle, and they look at us the ‘pretty things on the side’, but I think slowly, we’re changing people’s minds about that. It’s not gonna happen overnight, but eventually we’re gonna get there. We just need patience and time.”

Who came up with the 30-second RAW match that led to #GiveDivasAChance trending?:

“What’s funny about that is we were given about three minutes. Three to four minutes. And we – us four girls who were in the match – we put our heads together and said look: we can either give them a two minute match, or we can give them nothing and get Brie and I so much heat and tell a great story…We’re not gonna give people three minutes of BS, and it ended up being a big chance. It ended up turning into #GiveDivasAChance trending worldwide for two days. I mean, we could’ve gone out there, done a few moves and called it a day, but we were like, ‘How do we tell a great story?’ and at the end of the day, that’s what we did. Brie and I got good heat at the end of it, we got trended for two days straight, and it was like, ‘Whoa. We’re storytelling now.’ And that’s what puts the Divas on the next level. Instead of just going out there and doing moves, we storytell. ‘Cause that’s what the boys do, and that’s what we need to do.”

https://player.fm/series/mark-madden-super-genius/nikki-bella