John Cena Reveals First Proposal To Nikki Bella Happened Inside A Surgery Room, Not ‘WrestleMania 33’

After swearing off marrying again, WWE superstar John Cena popped the marriage question to his longtime girlfriend Nikki Bella during WrestleMania 33. Bella said “Yes!” Cena looked very happy and sealed his proposal with a kiss. With his marriage proposal, Cena just made WrestleMania 33 even more memorable, especially for WWE fans.

This Sunday during WrestleMania 33, John Cena surprised everyone after bending down on his knees in-ring in front of his girlfriend and wrestling partner, Nikki Bella. Cena had sworn off marriage after his divorce with Elizabeth Huberdeau. The pair was married for all of three years from 2009 to 2012 and after that, Cena decided not to marry anymore and even made Bella sign a cohabitation agreement early into their relationship, The Inquisitr learned.

It might be true that a lot of things going on in WWE have some acting on some parts, but John Cena’s proposal to Nikki Bella is everything but that. During his proposal, John Cena – whose real name is John Felix Anthony Cena Jr. – used Nikki Bella’s real name – Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace – when he popped the question. Some fans may have been skeptical that the so-called proposal is just part of the script but Nikki Bella’s surprise and shock backstage with John Cena says it all – they’re engaged and going to be happily married soon.

Unbeknownst to fans, it’s not really the first time that John Cena proposed to Nikki Bella. The proposal John made at WrestleMania 33 was sort of the official version of his being engaged to Nikki. For those fans who watched WrestleMania 33 live, John started off saying that he waited a long time to ask his girlfriend Nikki Bella the question. Of course, he already had the ring box with him sporting a huge five-carat diamond engagement ring set in a classic style. Talk about John Cena going overboard with his proposal.

In his interview with NBC’s TODAY Show, John Cena revealed with TODAY‘s co-host Al Roker that he kind of proposed to Nikki Bella 18 months ago. As Cena recounted, Bella had been with him through a lot of surgeries. Cena remembers that he likes to make a joke for the 20 minutes once he’s put under anesthesia because he can talk and not remember whatever happened afterward. But the tables turned around when Bella had to have a neck surgery following her injury.

Under the influence of anesthesia, John took that exact opportunity to tell Nikki that he wanted to get married again – with her, E! reported. Cena made sure that he will be the last one to wheel Nikki into the OR before her procedure. Instead of bending down on one knee, he stopped the doctors, leaned down on Nikki and asked if she can still hear him. After hearing her affirmative, John said he only has one question for her.

“So, you know someday I’m going to marry you?”

Of course, Nikki said “yes” and it became John’s biggest secret. With the anesthesia, Bella cannot remember any of the conversation and Cena refused to budge whenever his girlfriend asked him if they talked about something important during those 20 minutes or under before she had her neck surgery. All that John Cena would tell Nikki Bella is that she will get her answer when the “time was right.”

The Sunday night of WrestleMania 33 turned out to be the perfect place and time for that. John Cena literally got engaged in front of his mother, who hates traveling but came by just at the right time to watch him for the first time at WrestleMania 33. John did not have any inkling that his own mother would be there so he was very surprised to find his mom sitting among the audience.

With his earlier stance on not marrying again, John Cena cleared it up on TODAY Show by saying that he found the right person who changed his life, and apparently his marriage views.

“I found the right person. I found a strong person that I consider an inspiration. An equal. Someone when I’m down, can pick me up. It took a person that strong to change my life.”

John Cena’s proposal may look scripted to some, but Nikki Bella cannot fake her surprise – and obvious joy – that John asked her to marry him. Nikki says that getting his proposal with all of WWE watching is just right.

“I never actually would have thought that he would have proposed in front of all those people, but that’s home for us, WWE is our home, it’s where we met, it’s our passion, it’s our life,” Bella went on to explain.

“Honestly, I could not ask for it to be any other way.”

Congratulations are definitely in order. Thanks to John Cena’s proposal to Nikki Bella, WrestleMania 33 just got even more momentous. So what do you think about this WWE couple? Don’t be too shy to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Erika Goldring/Getty Images]