Everything Nikki Bella and John Cena Said About Each Other Before Split

Nikki Bella announced on Sunday that she and longtime love John Cena had broken up after six years together, shocking fans who had watched the pair’s relationship play out over the years, from reality shows Total Divas and Total Bellas to their engagement during Wrestlemania in 2017.

While Cena had previously stated that he would never get married again, his proposal to Bella seemed to signal a shift in his thinking, and the pair’s resulting engagement led to a series of public appearances in which the couple couldn’t help but gush over one another.

If you feel like getting emotional, read on for some of the sweetest things the pair had to say about each other before their split.

The first date

Cena spoke to PopSugar in 2017 and opened up about the very beginning of his relationship with Bella. The pair knew each other through WWE and began dating after Cena mustered up the courage to ask her to go to dinner.

“I was brave enough to be like, ‘Hey, would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?’ and she said, ‘Yes,’” he recalled. “I was overjoyed.”

He also shared that “the day she said ‘yes’ when I asked her out on a date” was the moment he knew things would change between them.

Moving toward marriage

Bella seemed to sense a shift in her man’s thinking years before he proposed, telling E! in 2015 that she felt Cena was more “open” to marriage.

“He truly is my knight in shining armor,” she said. “I definitely think in the future people will be surprised where we end up because I’m seeing him more open to marriage. At least we’re taking steps forward, and I honestly couldn’t imagine my life without him.”

The engagement

When Cena got down on one knee in the middle of the Wrestlemania ring in April 2017, he told Bella that he had been waiting to ask her a certain question, proposing with an emotional and touching speech.

“This is what you wanted over a year ago,” Cena began. “You broke your neck and did everything you could to come back because you wanted a WrestleMania moment. I’m so very proud of you.”

“Right before your surgery, there would be a time when you would be a little loopy and I could ask you anything I wanted. If you gave me an honest answer, you wouldn’t remember what you said. After a year and half, you asked me all the time. I promised I would tell you when the time is right. The time is right.”

“You were kinda glassy, in and out,” Cena continued. “At the last moment, I said, ‘Can you hear me?’ You said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘I only have one question.’ You said, ‘What is it?’ ‘Do you know one day I’m going to marry you?’ And you said, ‘Yes.’ I just need you to say yes one more time. I have been waiting so long to ask you this, Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace, will you marry me?”

The party

Bella and Cena celebrated their engagement with a party in January 2018.

“Such a wonderful, meaningful, emotional day yesterday with the woman of my dreams and both of our families,” Cena tweeted after the bash. “I love you Nicole, you’ve made me realize the importance of togetherness.”

Bella replied, “Aww my Love… It was so magical. Love you too John.”

Wedding planning

Bella told The Knot that Cena was happy to let her plan the wedding of her dreams.

“The one thing he told me was, ‘Nicole, I want you to do everything. I want it to be your perfect day,’” she said. “I was like, ‘Well I want you to join me.’ And he said, ‘Well, I want it to be everything you want.’ So it’s really cute. I know… He treats me like a queen.”

Mrs. Cena

While promoting his new film Blockers, Cena shared that he didn’t mind that fans had already begun referring to Bella as his wife. The couple was set to tie the knot on May 5 in Mexico, and Cena told People in early April that he wished the two had married “yesterday.”

“People come up to me and say, ‘I love watching your wife on television,’” he shared. “And I love that. I’m already ready to go there and it sounds nice hearing it. I know that we will have a wonderful future together.”

Looking back

Bella reflected on the couple’s engagement in an Instagram post on April 8.

“I can’t believe this was last year at WrestleMania!” she wrote. “What a moment, still get chills and tears every time. Honestly feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”

Until death do us part

Less than two weeks before Bella announced their split, the pair participated in a joint interview with E! News in which Cena said the pair were in it for the long haul.

“I think the best thing about me being able to ask her hand in marriage was she doesn’t need to question my commitment to our relationship,” he said. “I am with her to death do us part.”

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