Nikki Bella is gearing up for her next adventure!
Ahead of Monday’s premiere of NBC’s America’s Got Talent: Extreme, Nikki Bella, 38, spoke to PEOPLE about sharing the judging panel with Simon Cowell and professional stunt performer Travis Pastrana — and why it was “very” intimidating.
“My experience so far has been absolutely incredible, way more than I expected,” the Total Bellas star said.
“When the opportunity came to me, I was super excited just to know that these people with these incredible crafts and talents now finally get a platform to showcase that. And to know that I get to judge that, I just was, ‘Okay, this is a match made in heaven.’ ”
“And then to know that I’m sharing the judging panel with Simon Cowell and Travis Pastrana, I’m not going to lie, at first I was very intimidated,” she recalled.
“Then it was like instant chemistry with them and [host] Terry Crews on top of it, I learned a lot. I laughed a lot. I even cried. But it was an amazing time and it was really neat to go through. I mean, Travis is a king of extreme, and there’s no more iconic judge than Simon Cowell.”
Reflecting on the first time she met the “iconic” Cowell, Bella said she did everything she could to calm her nerves.
“I remember I was on the car ride over, just super intimidated,” she said. “I’m listening to meditation music because I’m going in as a judge for the first time next to Simon. I just wanted to give my best, give my all. From the moment that I met him, he was so down to earth and humble and gave Travis and me amazing advice, he was very inviting.”
NBC first announced its plans for the spinoff show in May 2021. The network later described the series as “the most outrageous, unique and jaw-dropping acts of enormous scale and magnitude that simply cannot be confined to a theater stage.”
Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace, colloquially known as Nicole Garcia-Colace, is an American professional wrestler and reality television personality. She is currently signed to WWE under the ring name Nikki Bella, where she is a Hall of Famer.
