The story of how Paige ended up at WrestleMania 42 is as unlikely as the return itself.
Speaking on The Nikki and Brie Show, Brie Bella revealed that the seeds were planted accidentally during a live podcast in New York before a remarkable coincidence in Birmingham brought everything together.
“If you were at the live podcast in New York, Becky asked me, ‘Who would you pick as a partner, who would you pick?’ I said Saraya. Then I was like, ‘Wait, we’re going to start rumors and headlines.’ It hadn’t even been talked about. We talk to Paige all the time, but it was a joke. We had to cut it from the show because I thought people were going to think we were serious.
Literally, Nikki is in Birmingham getting her surgery, and I text Saraya, ‘I think I might be out of Mania.’ I told her I was in Birmingham with Nikki and she goes, ‘Shut up, I’m in Birmingham.’ ‘What. Nikki is getting surgery?’ They were in Birmingham at the same time,” Brie said.
Brie said she had already told WWE creative she was willing to sit out of WrestleMania if Nikki was not cleared to compete. The discovery that Paige happened to be in the same city at the same moment shifted everything.
“It was interesting because she’s like, ‘I don’t know if they’ll have me. There haven’t been talks.’ It was a lot on her because she’s like, ‘Girl, I’m not even with them yet, but whatever, I’m there.’ Paige always rallies with us. I didn’t even know it was going to work. To me, it was the stars starting to align that you guys were there at the same time,” Brie said.
Nikki added her own detail to the timeline, noting just how close the two came to crossing paths in person without realizing it.
“I think when she was flying out, I was just getting to the doctor’s office. We just missed each other,” Nikki said.
Paige and Brie went on to defeat Lash Legend, Nia Jax, Lyra Valkyria, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 42, with Nikki interfering using a crutch to help them secure the victory.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit The Nikki and Brie Show with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
