Nikki and Brie Garcia have announced that they have officially departed WWE.

It’s the first time in 16 years that the twins find themselves without a WWE contract, but the decision, despite being difficult, was needed. On their Nikki & Brie Show on Sirius XM, Nikki said that when it was time to talk about a new WWE deal, they knew it was time to pack their bags.

“Today we are officially from here on out, the Garcia Twins, Brie and Nikki Garcia,” Nikki said.

The twins signed WWE developmental deals in 2007 and had been part of the promotion ever since. Nikki won the Divas title twice and Brie once, and both were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2020.

There were hints that the two would return from retirement and go for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles but that never transpired and their RAW XXX appearance was nixed as they were sent to do other media for WWE.

The twins enjoyed a rather successful career in WWE and even had their own Total Bellas show on E! They were also an integral part of the Total Divas show and lately Nikki had a four-part series titled Nikki Bella Says I Do which also aired on E! All shows were co-produced by WWE.

WWE owns the trademarks for the names Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, and The Bella Twins, which is why they are reverting to their real names.