WWE legends Nikki and Brie Bella look almost unrecognizable as Hooters girls in tight-outfits before wrestling careers

WWE legends The Bella Twins looked back at their past as Hooters girls claiming it helped them launch their successful wrestling careers.

Nikki and Brie Bella, 40, are among the most popular female stars in professional wrestling history and were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020.

The Bella Twins used to work at Hooters before their WWE successInstagram @brie

Brie and Nikki Bella are among the most popular female WWE legendsAFP

The American twins, who now go by their maiden Garcia surnames after leaving the wrestling giants, came from humble beginnings.

Before rocking the ring they both served hot wings for San Diego diners.

The sisters look back at those days with great fondness as they told the New York Post it paved the way for their WWE careers.

The former women’s champions insist the chain’s Mission Valley restaurant helped raise their confidence when they worked there at the age of 19 before entering the demanding world of wrestling.

Brie said: “Working there, you really owned your feminine energy. As a waitress, you have to have confidence to go up to strangers and talk.

“But we had to have thick skin and not only confidence, but you had to own it.

“You’re going up to men who are excited and want to get crazy. So we knew how to keep them in line and we all set boundaries for ourselves and didn’t take any crap from our customers.

“So it really taught me at a young age just to stand up for myself and to own it, own the room and own a table.

“And I think it really helped me with pro wrestling to take that attitude into that.”

Nikki agreed with her Bella Twin and also shared some secrets of the trade that made their jobs a lot easier.

The two-time women’s champion said: “Squeezing your cleavage. You’d be like, ‘Do you want more fries with that?’

“Yeah, we got really creative. Like with the lingo, even just saying, ‘I hope you had a Hooter-fic time’.

“You just came up with this really cheeky verbiage as waitresses there.

“And let’s be honest, everyone loves seeing the Hooters girls doing the YMCA and hula hoop — tips were going up.”