Nikki Bella isn't in a hurry to get back in the ring

An unfortunate ankle injury kept Nikki Bella out of the WrestleMania 42 lineup, where she was expected to be crowned WWE Tag Team Champion alongside her sister Brie. The injury forced her to undergo surgery, with a return date unknown. Although it is now closer than before, Nikki prefers not to rush and come back at 100%. She explained this in the most recent edition of Nikki & Brie Show.

"While I have been working on my physical strengthening, something I have had to constantly remind myself is that you have to start somewhere. There are things I am doing right now where I feel like I could lift more weight. I could jump higher, but that's not what I should be doing at this moment. It's not part of my recovery process. And it's okay to start from here and build up gradually. So don't give up. In fact, moving slowly is best because it allows us to create the strongest foundations. And that's what I'm telling myself," she said.

"I learned my lesson the other day because I was doing jumping exercises and I pushed myself a bit. I thought, 'I know I can jump even higher.' And at the moment I did, I felt a pain in my ankle like fire, and I thought, 'Oh, wait, now I know what my limit is.' Even though I wasn't allowed to do it, I did. That set me back a bit and reminded me that yes, progress can be slow, but it's totally worth it. Now I can share more of my artistic vision clearly because I have fully accepted it."

About her return to the ring

"Obviously, I feel FOMO (fear of missing out) for Brie's Italian adventure, and I can't wait for her to return to the show (podcast) to tell us all about it. We will all feel envious because she has been enjoying life under the Tuscan sun, although we know that someday we will all be able to have an experience like that.

But one of the blessings of all this was that when I had originally booked my trip to meet up with Brie, I would wake up every night with anxiety about that trip. That's when I started to realize that it wasn't the right time for me to travel to Tuscany.

By staying home, I have realized that I have really been focused on working hard on my training and recovery, and I have also been receiving very good news about how much stronger I am. Everything looks very good. I think they will do my X-rays a week earlier than planned and then I will start to return to the ring gradually to see how I feel. But everything is evolving very positively, strong, and healthy, and I felt that I needed to be at home," she said.