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Nikki Bella Likely Apologized To WWE Star After Apparent Botch

By Monika Thapa • Published Oct 30, 2025 15:10 EDT

Nikki Bella faced Roxanne Perez in a singles match on Monday Night RAW this week.

During a spot in the match, Bella slapped Perez so hard that she fell on the mat, and the referee had to check on her. The ref even almost threw an X sign, but she signaled to resume the match after proper confirmation.

There has been a debate going on in the WWE Universe, whether Nikki Bella’s slap was actually so hard that Perez lost her balance and fell, or the 23-year-old was only selling the spot.

Nikki Bella Probably Apologized To Roxanne Pere For Slapping Her on RAW

Speaking on the latest episode of Storytime With Dutch Mantell, co-host James Romero and Mantell discussed the segment and concluded that the WWE Hall of Famer did indeed accidentally slap Perez hard, and she probably even apologized for it after the match backstage.

[James Romero]: She smacked her so hard, Roxanne Perez went face down to the floor.
[Dutch Mantell]: Yeah. And look at the referee. The referee’s saying, ‘Are you okay? Are you all right?’ She gets up, and she’s staggering. Now, I don’t know if that was a shoot, because usually, they don’t have the foresight to actually stagger after a shot. But a slap can knock you out, and she gave her a good one. The referee’s holding her up right there.
[James Romero]: She’s doing the X thing very briefly. I’ll just play this bit for one sec. She just goes, and then she stops straight away. So maybe Roxanne just said, ‘I’m all right, I can continue.’ Anyway, if she thought she couldn’t continue from that, then Nikki Bella gives her this Dropkick right in the face. Have that.
[Dutch Mantell]: Well, welcome to wrestling.
[James Romero]: I know, but I thought Gunther or someone would be the hardest hitter in WWE. Who would have known it was Nikki Bella after all this time?
[Dutch Mantell]: Well, Nikki Bella’s–I tell you, you wouldn’t think women would have that hard a slap, but she slapped her open. See that follow-through? And most people, if you get slapped, you would just sell the slap. She went down. But it looked good.
[James Romero]: Of course, it looked good. Anyone can hit anyone as hard as they can; it will look good.
[Dutch Mantell]: Absolutely. But I’m saying the girl went down not because of a sell, but because she had to. She had nowhere else to go. The referee was holding her up, giving her the ‘Hey, let’s go home’ sign, and then they waved that off real quick. Then she got kicked in the face. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall back in that dressing room. What do you think was said?
[James Romero]: Like, damn. Lighten up, brother. Call my wife and family.
[Dutch Mantell]: No, the best thing to do is–Bella, the Bella girl was saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,’ because she knows she slapped her hard and kicked her too. The best thing you can do–the offending party needs to apologize first. I think that’s probably what happened.”