Brie Bella addresses her three minute match from WWE SmackDown: “I won’t lie, I was bummed”
While speaking on her podcast with sister Nikki, Brie Bella addressed her singles match against Lainey Reid from the July 3rd 2026 edition of SmackDown…
“I’ve been pitching for a while to have a singles match. I’ve been wanting it forever. So when I finally found out I was getting one, I was super excited.
When I heard the time, I was bummed. But I also understood. SmackDown is back to two hours, and it’ll be two hours until January. So all of a sudden, when you have all these storylines going on during a three-hour show and then, boom, you get cut down to two hours, you’re back to fighting for TV time. They’re going to have to condense a lot of stuff.
So a part of me understood it. I mean, obviously I won’t lie—I was bummed.
For me, this is how I look at it. They tried to get a bunch of stuff in, and obviously I’m always grateful to be on the card. I mean, did I make jokes? Of course. When I went backstage, Paige and I were like, ‘How did I lose my time? How did I lose my time?’
You know, of course I’m going to make jokes.
Or, ‘If there’s anyone we can give three minutes to, it’s Brie Bella because she’s from the Divas Era.’
And I did. I did a lot with those three minutes. I was like, ‘You know what?’
Because Paige was honest. She asked me, ‘Are you bummed?’
I’m not going to lie. I’m not here to stroke anyone or make anyone feel good about themselves. I was bummed, of course. But I also think I left the fans wanting more.”