Barmageddon host Nikki Bella decided to change her name from Garcia earlier this year. She left her former career with the WWE alongside her twin, Brie Bella in March. Now, she’s leading the popular USA Network game show – but her name change has totally confused viewers.
In each episode of Barmageddon, two celebrities compete in classic bar games with a twist, including Keg Curling, Drunken Axe Hole, and many more. WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella brings the heat as The USA Network host, while best friends Blake Shelton and Carson Daly watch celebrity friends take on games.
Meet Barmageddon host Nikki Bella
Nikki Bella – whose birth name is Nikki Garcia – is a television host and retired WWE wrestler. She is known for her tenure in WWE from 2007 to 2023, in which she performed under ring name Nikki Bella.
The 40-year-old is now hosting game show Barmageddon in her first big project after leaving WWE earlier this year. She is a two-time WWE Divas Champion with a second and longest reign of 301 days.
She and Brie were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021 as The Bella Twins. She also starred in the reality TV series, Total Divas, and she and Brie got their own spin-off, Total Bellas.
Why did Nikki Bella change her name?
Nikki wanted to use her father’s surname – Garcia – rather than their married names: Nikki Chigvintsev and Brie Danielson, after their contract with WWE was born.
As of March 2023, the Barmageddon host is no longer going by her stage name, Nikki Bella, and will be known as Garcia from now on, so that she can honour her family heritage.
Brie said it only made sense to use their birth names. “We knew we had to go back to Garcia to grow more and just become more powerful,” she said in an interview with TODAY.
TV host remains married to hubby
Nikki Bella from Barmageddon is married to Artem Chigvintsev, 41, who she tied the knot with in 2022. The happily married couple have a three-year-old son together called Matteo.
Russian dancer Artem was Nikki’s Dancing with the Stars partner, who she met in 2019. On January 3, 2020, the couple announced their engagement, before revealing she was pregnant just weeks later.
Nikki previously dated John Cena, who proposed to her during WrestleMania 33. However on April 15, 2018, the couple called off the engagement and canceled their wedding.
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