Paige made her return to WWE at WrestleMania 42, stepping in for an injured Nikki Bella in the Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal Four-Way on night one in Las Vegas.
Nikki Bella announced ahead of the match that she was unable to compete due to her ankle injury and had called in Paige as her replacement. Paige appeared alongside Brie Bella for the bout at Allegiant Stadium, returning to a WWE ring for the first time since January 2018, more than seven years after being medically disqualified from competition.
The return is one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent wrestling history given the circumstances that led to Paige being pulled from the ring in the first place. In December 2017, during a tag team match at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, Paige suffered a serious injury when Sasha Banks kicked both legs into her back from the turnbuckles. Paige went down and could not get her legs under her. She eventually rose and attempted to continue before collapsing again. A stretcher was brought to ringside. Given her previous neck surgery, WWE removed her from competition entirely following further testing, with the belief that she had suffered a stinger that caused her to lose feeling in her extremities. She was just 25 years old.
The injury came during an already turbulent period in Paige’s life that included neck surgery, two WWE Wellness Policy suspensions, the public leak of personal videos, and a difficult personal relationship. By late 2017 she had fought through all of that to return to the WWE Performance Center and was part of the Absolution faction with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville when the injury struck weeks later and ended her in-ring career.
In the years that followed, Paige remained with WWE as SmackDown General Manager before her contract expired in June 2022. She signed with AEW and made a surprise debut that September, returning to the ring without WWE’s medical restrictions in place. She went on to win the AEW Women’s Championship from Hikaru Shida and competed for AEW through March 2025.
Now 33 and back under TKO ownership, Paige’s appearance at WrestleMania 42 represents the kind of moment the industry rarely gets to experience. Seven years ago, she was told her career was over. Tonight, she walked back into a WWE ring on the grandest stage in professional wrestling.
Nikki Bella announces she's injured and can't compete…
PAIGE IS HER REPLACEMENT 🤯#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/cYuoLFftc5
— The Movement – Pro Wrestling (@TheMovementXx) April 18, 2026
