Nikki Bella says she is preparing for more of her Paige segments to be cut from television, and thinks the story might work better online anyway.
Paige had been scheduled for the August 14 SmackDown to answer Bella, but the segment did not air. WWE released the footage on social media and YouTube afterward as a digital exclusive. Paige posted the word “lol” on X once the show went off the air. Bella replied, asking what she had said, and said she thought she had missed it. Paige said Bella should want women to have segments rather than celebrate their being cut, called her full of it, and said she would see her in person the following week. Bella responded that she hoped so.
Speaking on The Nikki and Brie Show, Bella said she has started planning for it to happen again.
“At this point, if it turns into an online story, why not? I was just brainstorming yesterday, preparing. It kind of brought me back to a decade ago. I need to be prepared for these things now that might get cut.”
“I was like, hey, we always made the most of things. It’s how we fought and made us want to break barriers more. I was getting very creative.”
She said the two of them have enough of a following to carry the story without television.
“It would almost be great to keep getting cut and making this an online thing with Paige, because we do have so much equity and star power. Then I started thinking, we come from the reality era too. We’ve done so much that goes beyond the ring.”
“It’ll work. I have a lot of ideas, and I’m just prepared for whatever happens and to really just ruffle feathers. I’m gonna watch all these movies of these gaslighting men and be taking notes.”
The story began at SummerSlam. Paige teamed with Nikki and Brie Bella against Fatal Influence on night one and lost; Nikki attacked her afterward. Brie broke her right scapula in multiple places during that match and has said she expects to be out for between three and six months, which leaves Nikki carrying the angle alone.
Bella cut a backstage promo the following week calling Paige the weak link and accusing her of taking her spotlight. The response that was meant to air on August 14 is the one that was cut.
In the footage WWE released, Paige rejected the idea that she had been leeching off the Bellas and pointed to how the WrestleMania 42 team came about.
“Did I come begging to be an honorary Bella for my big return after being gone for nearly a decade? No. You called me. You asked for my help, and because I loved Brie and I agreed, I was willing to share that moment with Brie because she needed me. You weren’t there, though.”
She also rejected Bella’s account of her career.
“Last time I checked, I don’t remember you being there by my side when I was working tirelessly every single day for eight years just to get back to WWE.”
And she answered Bella’s threat directly.
“You say that you’re gonna make whatever career I have left pure misery. Well, good luck keeping up, baby girl, because this is my house, and I plan on being here for a very long time.”
The clip ran about 80 seconds.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider reported that the promo had been planned for the show and was pulled for logistical reasons, without providing specifics. The Wrestling Observer reported it had been slated to go on ahead of Tiffany Stratton against Jacy Jayne for the Women’s United States Championship. SmackDown has been running as a two-hour show and is expected to return to three hours early next year, which leaves less room than the brand had for most of the past decade. Paige was not the only one moved to digital that night either, with the segment in which Nick Aldis booked Blake Monroe against Giulia also going out online rather than on the broadcast. The show still had to cut away from Cody Rhodes attacking Randy Orton at the desk before it went off the air.
Paige replaced Nikki Bella at WrestleMania 42 in April, teaming with Brie to win the Women’s Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way on night one after Nikki was ruled out with an ankle injury. The pair held the titles until Fatal Influence beat them at Saturday Night’s Main Event in July.
Nikki and Brie Bella both signed two-year contracts earlier this year that they have described as their last before retirement.
