Nikki and Brie Garcia are all for their sons following in their wrestling footsteps.
“Those two are like this, [they are] so close,” Nikki, 40, exclusively told Us Weekly of the bond between her son Matteo, 3, and her sister Brie’s son, Buddy, 3, on Wednesday, May 1, while promoting Polaris’ International Female Ride Day. “So I do think they would be a pretty badass tag team.”
If the boys did decide they wanted to follow in their moms’ wrestling footsteps, they would be supportive of the decision. Brie, 40 dubbed the duo as the “Bella Fellas,” which is an homage to her and Nikki’s former stage name, The Bella Twins. Nikki shares Matteo with husband Artem Chigvintsev. In addition to Buddy, Brie and husband Bryan Danielson are the parents of daughter Birdie, 6.
“I see [Buddy] and I’m, like, Ooh my gosh, he is so his dad and me — in ways he has my energy and just the way he’ll do certain things,” Brie shared. “But he is my husband’s mini-me and the way he will wrestle around and he’ll just do things.”
Brie added that her son picked up both her and Danielson’s enthusiasm for wrestling as he’s goofing around at home.
“The other day he put me in this thing and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a guillotine. We’re not allowed to do that,’” she said. “And it’s just incredible.”
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While Brie saw that her son has what it takes to make it in the WWE one day, she could also see those same qualities in her nephew, Matteo, to which Nikki also agreed.
“He is my fearless side. I have to literally follow him everywhere because he just jumps off things. He goes on things. He has no fear,” Nikki explained. “And even the other day, one of his teachers was like, we’ve realized Matteo has a very high pain tolerance. And see I do, too. That’s how I broke my neck. Didn’t know my neck was dangling and sure there it was, but I’ve realized that with him and I have to be careful.”
Although Nikki could see her son in the wrestling ring one day, she noted that Matteo also picked up his father’s grace and could see him becoming a dancer as well. (Chigvintsev is one of the pros on Dancing With the Stars.)
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Brie and Nikki shared that because they were former wrestlers they know how to have “a lot of fun” with their kids. In addition to goofing around with wrestling moves, the sisters have also taken up other activities with their little ones, including arts and crafts, skiing and t-ball.
“We’ve become T-ball coaches, so we’re coaching our boys team and it kind of made me start to realize how much I like coaching and mentoring young athletes,” Nikki told Us. “I get it, they’re 3 to 5, so I’m trying to fire them up as if they’re playing in a D1 game.”
While Nikki and Brie spend a lot of time and energy with their families, they also remember to make time for the activities that bring them joy including motorsports. The retired athletes teamed up with Polaris to celebrate International Female Ride Day, which is the first Saturday in May, to empower women power sports riders across the country.
“We grew up in the desert. We’d always be at the dunes right in our quads. And I just remember even being a young girl and feeling so strong and badass doing this, I remember I entered a race and I won and I was just like, it’s always been a part of us,” Nikki recalled. “So now that this is the fourth year that they are celebrating women who ride, I think it’s so important. I think it’s really great for women and girls to get behind these powerful, fun [vehicles.]”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi