Paige fired back at an online troll who predicted she would rarely defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships following her WrestleMania 42 return, responding with a simple “Now what?” after retaining the titles on Monday’s Raw.
The troll had claimed Paige was only brought back for clout and would seldom put the championships on the line. Since winning the titles alongside Brie Bella at WrestleMania 42 Night One, the duo — known as Team Scream Mode — have remained active champions.
On Monday’s Raw, Paige and Brie defended against Judgment Day’s Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez, with Liv Morgan at ringside. Referee Jessika Carr ejected Morgan for attempted interference late in the match.
Rodriguez then slipped Perez a championship belt while the referee was distracted, but Brie avoided the attack and quickly rolled Perez up for the pinfall to retain.
Nikki Bella has sent out a warning to The Judgment Day following a confrontation on the May 11 edition of Raw.
The Judgment Day members Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Roxanne Perez confronted WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Brie Bella and Paige before physically attacking both wrestlers.
The post, shared on the Nikki and Brie social media account, suggested Nikki would return to Raw despite dealing with an injury. The message referenced her 2015 run as a warning to The Judgment Day.
“Ohhhh ****!!! I’m about to tape up still broken and get my *** to RAW!!! No one talks to my sister like that or one of my girls! Hell no!! They want to talk about has beens I’m about to 2015 their *****!! N,” the post read.
Ohhhh shit!!! I’m about to tape up still broken and get my ass to RAW!!! No one talks to my sister like that or one of my girls! Hell no!! They want to talk about has beens I’m about to 2015 their asses!! N pic.twitter.com/1bRZjNT2xy
The former two-time Divas Champion addressed her recovery timeline during an episode of The Nikki & Brie Show, giving fans hope she’ll be back in the ring sooner than expected.
Bella suffered a severe ankle injury on the March 27 episode of SmackDown that forced her out of WrestleMania 42. She tore, sprained, and fractured her ankle, requiring surgery just a couple of weeks before the ‘Show of Shows.’
Paige was busted open and required stitches after an attack from Nia Jax during the May 8 episode of WWE SmackDown in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Women’s Tag Team Champion took to social media after the broadcast to share photos of blood running down her face and backstage footage of WWE medical staff closing the wound.
Despite the graphic nature of the injury, she kept things light, captioning the post, “So @LinaFanene said ‘welcome back b*tch.’”
The injury occurred during a chaotic multi-team segment on the Backlash go-home show. Paige and Brie Bella opened the segment by addressing critics of their return before Fatal Influence interrupted. Things escalated further when the Irresistible Forces, Jax and Lash Legend, entered the mix.
Jax told Fatal Influence to “get in line” before turning her attention to the champions, striking Paige with a microphone and following up with a leg drop. Legend laid out Brie Bella with the Lash Extension.
The mic shot to Paige’s scalp caused a legitimate laceration that bled visibly during the remainder of the segment. Despite the wound, Paige stayed in the ring and finished the angle before receiving medical attention backstage. Reports indicate the cut, while bloody, was not deep enough to cause any long-term concern.
Jax and Legend have been aggressively pursuing a rematch since losing the titles at WrestleMania, and the Irresistible Forces fell short again in a title defense on the May 1 SmackDown. Friday’s segment made it clear they’re not done, and the legitimate injury could add real intensity to the rivalry going forward.
WWE Backlash takes place tonight at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. While the Women’s Tag Team Championship is not on the confirmed card, the physical fallout from Friday’s segment makes it clear the feud between these two teams is far from over.
WWE star recently shared a disturbing story from her teenage years in her new memoir “Hell in Boots: Clawing My Way Through Nine Lives.”
The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion detailed an uncomfortable encounter with an older wrestler during a trip to Scotland when she was just 14 years old.
According to the book, a wrestler named Jay began following Paige around and crossed boundaries during training. What started as playful behavior in the ring quickly escalated into something far more serious.
“Jay was chatty with me straightaway. He wasn’t shy about conversing with me, that’s for sure. He followed me around everywhere,” Paige wrote.
“We were in the ring training, and then he rolled in and started getting playful. I just thought it was funny. He chased me around the building, trying to tickle me. Well, he caught me and grabbed me. Turned me upside down and shoved his face in between my legs. At that point, I stopped laughing, and it made me feel uncomfortable.”
Drew McIntyre Steps In
The situation came to a head later that night after Paige’s match. Jay approached her again and made another inappropriate comment, but this time Drew McIntyre overheard and immediately confronted him.
“Later on that night, I sat in the corner, trying to cool down after my match. Jay found me right away. ‘Wow… you look like you just had sex. It’s so sexy.’ This time, though, Drew heard,” Paige recalled.
“‘What the f**k did you just say to her?’ Jay had gained some undeserved confidence from what he had gotten away with earlier. With a creepy smile that I’ll never forget, he gave the same half-aed excuse, sure he would be let off the hook again. It didn’t work.”
McIntyre pulled Jay away for a private conversation that Paige could hear through the walls. The confrontation had an immediate and lasting effect on Jay’s behavior.
“Drew looked furious. ‘Let’s go talk.’ Drew grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him away. Even through the walls, I could hear the muffled yelling from Drew as he lost it on Jay in the other room,” she wrote.
“Whatever Drew said, it worked. From that day on, Jay did not make eye contact with me. Didn’t try to talk to me. Didn’t send me inappropriate messages. Didn’t chase me around and shove his face in between my fourteen-year-old legs as a ‘joke.’”
Speaking Out About Past Experiences
Paige has been open about difficult moments from her career and personal life. This revelation from her memoir adds another layer to her story and highlights the challenges young performers can face in the wrestling business.
The book provides an unfiltered look at her journey through the industry, including moments that shaped her both inside and outside the ring. Paige has made it clear she’s not holding back in sharing her experiences.
Tiffany Stratton has expressed a desire to share the ring with Paige following her emotional WrestleMania 42 return.
Speaking on the Battleground podcast, Stratton praised the women’s matches at WrestleMania 42 across the board before singling out Paige’s surprise appearance as one of the highlights of the weekend.
“I am so happy for all the women. I feel like we’ve come such a long way. We had Liv and Raquel, we had Rhea and Jade, we had the tag match, Paige came back. What an amazing pop, what an amazing moment. That was so cool to watch and then she killed it in the ring. I’m just so happy for everybody. I hope to get in the ring with Paige too,” Stratton said.
Paige returned to WWE at WrestleMania 42 night one, replacing an injured Nikki Bella to team with Brie Bella and win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. It was her first WWE match since 2017, when a neck injury ended her career with the company. She spent time in AEW as Saraya from 2022 to 2025 before making her way back to WWE earlier this year.
Paige pulled back the curtain on Dusty Rhodes’ FCW promo class during a recent episode of What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon, recounting a first lesson that involved an invisible letter, a screaming mentor, and a teenage student who had no idea what was happening.
The now one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, who returned at WrestleMania 42 alongside Brie Bella, called Rhodes the foundation of how she learned to work a microphone.
The Invisible Letter
Her very first promo in developmental was not a promo at all. It was Dusty handing her nothing and asking her to read it.
“I remember my first promo ever at FCW. We had a promo class, and Dusty gave me this invisible letter. He was like, ‘Read this letter.’ I was just reading it, and he stops me. He goes, ‘Stop. Why are you reading it like that? You’re reading it like a little girl. You’re reading it like you’re in your bedroom. This is a big deal! You’re in front of thousands of people.’ He was screaming at me. I was like, ‘I’m sorry, Dusty.’ He kept doing it, and I was getting so frustrated. I was like, ‘It’s a piece of paper! It’s an invisible piece of paper! What do you want from me?’”
The exercise was not about the letter. It was about forcing a young wrestler to find stakes and presence in a performance where nothing on the surface was real.
Singing Her Way Out Of The Box
Paige walked away from that first class determined to come back with something different. She went the opposite direction on purpose.
“I promised I’d deliver the next time. So the next promo I did, I went completely out of my comfort zone and I sang. I was like, ‘F it. I’m going to do something completely opposite to what he’s asking me,’ just so I could get more comfortable. I did this promo with Chavo Guerrero and we just sang together, and it went really well. He was like, ‘This is great. This is what I want to see.’ So then I started just doing promos where I would take scenes out of movies and just reenact them or do something a little different.”
The singing bit worked. The movie-scene re-enactments followed. Rhodes’ point landed: discomfort was the actual curriculum, and getting it wrong in class was how you stopped getting it wrong on television.
Paige’s Learning Tree
Rhodes passed away in June 2015, but the list of wrestlers who credit him as a formative voice keeps growing. Cody Rhodes has shared his own stories about his father’s booking style, and Paige is now another name in that line.
She is back in WWE television programming for the first time since 2017 and has already reunited with AJ Lee backstage at WrestleMania 42. The lessons she picked up in that FCW classroom, from a man who would scream at her over an invisible piece of paper, are the ones she is taking into the next chapter.
Paige opened up about the lowest point of her career on a recent episode of What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon, describing the stretch after her 2017 neck injury when substance use took over and private videos leaked online.
The former Divas Champion, who returned at WrestleMania 42 to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles alongside Brie Bella, did not soften the description.
“I started drinking and partying with the wrong people. I ended up having a relationship that wasn’t the healthiest, and I relied on drugs. On top of that, these tapes got released from when I was 19. I never wish that on anybody. I was so humiliated and devastated.”
The Sober House That Held Her Together
Paige credited a pair of close friends, Joey and Raquel, with pulling her out of the spiral. She moved in with them and the three got sober together.
“I moved in with Joey and Raquel so they could make sure I was safe and that I wasn’t doing anything stupid, and they got sober with me. They’ve always been my life support, my people 100%.”
She framed the living arrangement as the structural piece. Without it, there was no way the recovery held.
Three Therapists A Week For Extreme PTSD
WWE arranged the clinical support around her. Paige singled out one counselor as the central figure in her recovery.
“WWE got me a drugs and alcohol counselor, Bob Keeler, who was, man, I love that guy. And I would call him about relationship problems. I would be like, ‘Bro, I know this isn’t your job, but I need to speak to you.’ He was the best, and I could call him at any point of the day. And then he arranged a psychiatrist and a different therapist where they do this thing where they don’t even touch you; they just do this energy thing around you. He got me through it. I was speaking to three therapists a week, including him, because I had extreme PTSD.”
That volume of clinical work, three sessions a week across multiple specialists, is the part of her story that rarely gets public airtime. Paige was clear about what it took: the support system, the professional help, and the willingness to ask for it at any hour.
She arrived at WrestleMania 42 clean. The neck had checked out, the head was in the right place, and the version of Paige that walked through the curtain at Allegiant Stadium was the one the home friends and therapists spent years helping rebuild.
Stephanie McMahon shared a welcome-back message on social media ahead of the episode’s release.
Former WWE Divas Champion Paige recently revealed that her current WWE run could be her last in professional wrestling. She returned at WrestleMania 42 after nearly four years away from the company.
Speaking on Stephanie McMahon’s What’s Your Story? Podcast, Paige explained her mindset for this comeback. She wants to experience marquee matches that didn’t exist during her first WWE tenure.
“I came in this time with a mindset where I just want to be happy and have fun, because I don’t think I’m going to be wrestling after this run. I want to just enjoy my time that I have here, embrace absolutely everything, just enjoy the journey.”
Paige specifically mentioned wanting to compete in Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches. These stipulation matches were not available to women during her original run.
“That’s all I care about. But I do want to finally be able to be in the Royal Rumble that I got to not be a part of and do the Elimination Chambers and do, you know, all these stipulation matches that were not around.”
One-half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions recalled a bittersweet moment watching the first women’s Royal Rumble from backstage. She sat in Gorilla Position as the match began, unaware if she would ever get the opportunity to participate.
“I had to be backstage in Gorilla when the Royal Rumble just started, and no one knew I was retired by that point, you know? And so I just sat there and I was just really sad. It was bittersweet. I was happy that the girls finally got this big match that we didn’t have before. But I was sad because I wasn’t a part of it, and I didn’t know if I was ever going to be a part of it again.”
Return to WWE
Paige returned at WrestleMania 42, replacing Nikki Bella in the Women’s Tag Team Championship match. She teamed with Brie Bella to capture the titles.
The former champion was part of the WWE women’s revolution in 2015. A neck injury two years later forced her into early retirement from in-ring competition. She was medically cleared and wrestled Britt Baker at AEW Full Gear 2022, her first match in five years.
“To have this moment where I’m back in WWE, my neck is good, I’m wrestling again, and there’s opportunities for me to be a part of these stipulation matches. I mean, man, I’m really excited. I’m really excited for the next couple of years.”
The former Divas champion stepped in to replace an injured Nikki Bella and captured the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. It marked Paige’s first WWE match since 2017.
The Conversation That Started It All
Speaking on the Nikki & Brie Show podcast, Brie explained the unexpected series of events that led to the reunion. The story began weeks earlier at a live podcast event in New York.
“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.”
Brie said they had to cut that segment from the show to avoid speculation. At the time, there had been no discussions about Paige returning to WWE.
Birmingham Coincidence Changed Everything
The situation shifted when Nikki traveled to Birmingham for ankle surgery. Brie texted Paige about potentially missing WrestleMania, only to discover both women were in Birmingham simultaneously.
“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.
Nikki confirmed the timing, noting,
“I think when she was flying out, I was just getting to the doctor’s office. We just missed each other.”
Paige Stepped Up Despite Uncertainty
Brie told WWE creative she was willing to sit out WrestleMania if Nikki couldn’t compete. When Paige learned about the situation, she committed to helping despite no official talks with WWE.
“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,” Brie explained. “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.”
Nikki previously revealed she fractured, sprained, and broke her ankle, requiring surgery that kept her out of the match. Paige’s return allowed the tag team title match to proceed as planned at WrestleMania 42.
Brie Bella isn’t happy about how Paige’s comeback got leaked before WrestleMania 42, and she’s making it clear someone backstage is to blame.
Before Paige returned at WrestleMania 42, replacing Nikki Bella and winning the Women’s Tag Team Titles alongside Brie, reports surfaced about her comeback and multi-year deal. But according to Brie, the bigger issue isn’t the return itself: it’s how the surprise got spoiled ahead of time.
Speaking on the Nikki & Brie Show on April 21, 2026, Brie addressed the leak directly and made it clear she believes someone inside the circle tipped the information before it was meant to go public.
Brie Bella Vows to Find the Source
Brie set the tone by saying moments like Paige’s return are supposed to stay under wraps, especially when WWE is trying to create a surprise for fans.
“The Paige stuff got leaked from a stooge, and I will find out who saw it earlier in the week. I will say this.. you guys.. just let things be special and a secret. Who runs and tells people?” Brie said.
She didn’t stop there. Brie then took aim at the culture of breaking news around wrestling, suggesting that some people are more focused on clicks than protecting big moments.
Criticism of Wrestling News Culture
“I’m talking about people who have run to TMZ and saw something they wanna break about someone’s personal life. It’s about clicks and impressions, so they wanna be breaking news. You didn’t break anything,” Brie stated.
Brie made it personal, saying the leak didn’t just ruin a surprise — it crossed a line in how private moments get handled. She closed with a warning, making it clear she plans to figure out exactly who let the information slip.
“I will say this: it’s actually sad. So, look at yourself in the mirror and think about what you will do next time. I’m gonna find that stooge, though.”
Paige’s return ended with a title win at WrestleMania, but backstage, the fallout from the leak has become its own story.
Between the surprise being spoiled and Brie calling it out publicly, the situation has drawn attention to how wrestling news gets reported and who has access to sensitive information before major events.
Paige’s shock return at WrestleMania 42 has fans pushing hard for her to be added to WWE 2K26, with social media campaigns targeting the game’s upcoming WrestleMania 42 Pack DLC.
After eight years away from a WWE ring, Paige replaced an injured Nikki Bella on Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium and teamed with Brie Bella to capture the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. She pinned Alexa Bliss with the RamPaige to cap the fatal four-way, marking her first WWE title win since August 2014.
The moment immediately reshaped fan wishlists for 2K’s post-launch content. With Paige signing a multi-year deal and returning as champion, players have flooded social feeds asking 2K to add her likeness, entrance, and updated attire to WWE 2K26.
WrestleMania 42 Pack Details
The WrestleMania 42 Pack is a separate drop from Ringside Pass Season 2, which launched April 15 with Demolition’s Ax, Smash, and Crush plus Kelly Kelly. According to 2K, the WrestleMania 42 Pack will include the Night 1 and Night 2 arenas along with three WrestleMania 42 Superstar Persona Cards.
The pack is automatically delivered to Monday Night War Edition owners and will also be available for standalone purchase. An exact release date has yet to be announced.
Fan Wishlist Takes Shape
Paige leads the unofficial fan wishlist, but she is far from the only name circulating. Requests have poured in for updated Liv Morgan attire, Roman Reigns’ Tribal Chief gear from his WrestleMania 42 run, and CM Punk’s WrestleMania 42 outfit as potential Persona Card additions.
Fan mockups featuring silhouetted roster slots have spread across wrestling gaming communities, speculating on which three Personas 2K will pick from a weekend packed with memorable moments. The pack format favors quick-turnaround additions that can reuse existing in-game models.
2K has not publicly responded to the Paige campaign, and there is no confirmation she is under consideration. The Ringside Pass roadmap through Season 6 already includes Brie Bella as a Season 5 addition, but no 2K26 slot for Paige has been announced.
Nikki Bella knew she would not make it to WrestleMania for a while.
The former Divas Champion kept people guessing about her WrestleMania status despite a visible ankle injury until the last minute. In the end, however, she did not compete at the show. Bella introduced a returning Paige as her replacement instead. The former AEW star then went on to win the Women’s tag titles with Brie Bella.
This new WWE trio appeared on the WrestleMania post-show. Talking about her injury, Nikki Bella revealed that she broke her ankle in the SmackDown match last month and actually underwent surgery for it two weeks ago:
“I actually got surgery two weeks ago from yesterday. I managed to break, sprain, and tear my ankle. When I’m headed into Birmingham to get surgery. Guess who is in Birmingham. I was like, ‘Brie, there is no way I’m going to make WrestleMania, but you still have to have your moment.’
We were both like, ‘The only person who will make it feel special and like family is Paige.’ It’s crazy how life works. It’s part of the journey. There is no one else, and I truly mean this, no other WWE superstar in the past or now, that I would want to take my place than Paige,”
Nikki Bella did not reveal how long she will be out of action but a broken ankle means she will not be seen in the ring anytime soon.
Tonight’s show also featured a big match between Stephanie Vaquer and Liv Morgan but the duo ended up making an unfortunate record. You can check out more about it here.
The former Divas Champion made her surprise return to the company on Night 1 of WrestleMania 41. She replaced an injured Nikki Bella in the Women’s Tag Team title match.
The ending of this fatal four-way bout saw Charlotte Flair dragging the returning star into her corner and tagging in her partner, Alexa Bliss. Nikki Bella, who was still at the ringside, however, pulled Flair out of the ring and beat her with the crutch.
Bliss went for the twisted bliss on Paige but she put her knees up. The former AEW Women’s Champion then delivered a DDT to Alexa and pinned her to win the match for her team.
After the victory, Paige reunited with her arch-rival AJ Lee backstage. She posted a photo of the two with the Bella Twins, asking fans if they missed her.
Lee herself had a singles match on the show earlier in the night. Unfortunately for her, Becky Lynch beat the wrestling veteran to regain the Women’s IC Title at the show.
Paige also took part in the WrestleMania-post show where she claimed that WWE is her home. You can check out her comments here.
Paige had a lot to say after making her long-awaited WWE return at WrestleMania 42 on Saturday night in Las Vegas, and she made clear exactly where her loyalties lie.
Speaking on the WrestleMania 42 post show, Paige reflected on stepping back inside Allegiant Stadium for the first time in years.
“WWE is my home, I was raised here, I’m a WWE girl forever, and a Total Diva,” she said.
Paige admitted the moment hit her harder than she expected once she was walking out in front of the massive WrestleMania crowd.
“I didn’t know how anyone was gonna react, I’m walking out there, I forgot how big WrestleManias were,” she said. “It was magical, it was surreal, I forgot how to skip at one point. I was like, ‘What do I do? What does Paige do?’”
Paige Wins Gold in Her First WWE Match in Eight Years
Paige stepped in to replace an injured Nikki Bella, teaming with Brie Bella in the Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way against champions Nia Jax and Lash Legend, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, and Bayley and Lyra Valkyria.
She picked up the win and the titles by getting her knees up on Bliss’ Twisted Bliss attempt before hitting the RamPaige for the fall, marking her first WWE championship gold since 2017.
Paige had been away from WWE since her contract expired in June 2022, spending time in AEW under her real name Saraya before departing that promotion in March 2025. Per PWInsider, she signed a new multi-year deal with WWE ahead of WrestleMania 42.
Paige is back in WWE, and she is a champion again. The former Divas Champion made a surprise return at WrestleMania 42 on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, replacing an injured Nikki Bella and capturing the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship alongside Brie Bella in the Fatal Four-Way.
The moment carried an unmistakable echo of Paige’s WWE origin story. When she made her main roster debut on the Raw after WrestleMania 30 in 2014, she won the Divas Championship from AJ Lee in her first match. Twelve years later, in her first WWE match back after an eight-year absence, she walked out with gold again.
Nikki Bella Personally Introduced Her Replacement
The Bella Twins’ music hit during the match’s intros, but only Nikki walked out, wearing a walking boot and using a crutch. She told the Allegiant Stadium crowd that she was unable to compete and had called in an old friend to make sure her sister Brie still had her WrestleMania moment.
That friend was Paige, who had not stepped into a WWE ring since December 27, 2017. Her appearance had been heavily rumored throughout Friday after PWInsider first reported she had signed a multi-year contract and was hidden in Las Vegas all week for rehearsals.
The match featured champions Nia Jax and Lash Legend (c) defending against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, and the Bella and Paige team. The finish came after Nikki Bella got involved at ringside, yanking Charlotte Flair out of the ring and striking her with a crutch as Alexa Bliss climbed the ropes for a Twisted Bliss.
The distraction allowed Paige to get her knees up, blocking the move. She then hit her finisher on Bliss to score the pinfall and win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships for herself and Brie Bella.
Paige and the Bella Twins celebrated together in the ring after the bell, a full-circle moment for three women whose last shared WrestleMania appearance came as opponents in 2015.
Paige had not competed in a WWE ring since taking a kick to the back during a house show match against Sasha Banks at Nassau Coliseum in late 2017. She lost feeling in her extremities, and WWE doctors ruled her medically unable to compete in January 2018. She was 25 years old and believed her in-ring career was over.
She remained with WWE in non-wrestling roles, including a stint as SmackDown General Manager and as the manager for the Kabuki Warriors, until her contract expired in June 2022. She then signed with AEW under her real name Saraya, was eventually cleared to wrestle again, and captured the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In London in 2023. Her AEW deal expired in March 2025.
A Full-Circle Night With AJ Lee
The booking carried added weight given who else returned to a WrestleMania stage on Saturday. Paige’s last WrestleMania match before tonight came at WrestleMania 31 in 2015, when she teamed with AJ Lee to defeat Nikki and Brie Bella. AJ Lee retired the following night and did not appear on a WrestleMania card again until tonight, when she defends the Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch.
Both Divas-era stars are back on the same WrestleMania for the first time in 11 years. This time, Paige stood beside the Bellas instead of across from them, and walked out a champion.
By late 2017 she had fought through all of it and was back at the WWE Performance Center preparing for a television return, appearing on Raw as part of the Absolution faction with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville before the injury closed the door again just weeks later.
AJ Lee wants Paige back in WWE, and she made clear it would mean far more to her than just a roster addition.
Speaking with Rick Ucchino for Sports Illustrated, Lee was asked about the possibility of Paige returning to the company and reflected on the relationship the two had built during their time together and what a reunion would mean on a personal level.
Lee recalled being immediately struck by Paige’s ability upon her first arrival in WWE and described taking on an informal mentorship role early in their relationship.
“It would be great. She’s so talented and I knew it from day one, and we always joke that I was her fairy godmother. And I just like took her under my wing and tried to protect her,” Lee said.
She then turned to what seeing Paige back in WWE would mean to her now. “And just to see her now would be just kind of heartwarming and healing and she’d be a great addition to the locker room, I think.”
Lee also used the moment to highlight how much the environment in WWE’s women’s division has changed since her first run with the company, suggesting Paige would be walking into something very different from what either of them experienced in their earlier years.
“This place has really come a long way and the women work together so beautifully and they’re so supportive and I would love for her to experience just like how fun it is now,” Lee said.
Paige retired from in-ring competition in 2018 due to a neck injury and has remained a popular figure in wrestling circles since. Lee defends the Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 42 on April 19 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
AJ Lee wants to see two of her biggest rivals return to WWE. The Women’s Intercontinental Champion named Paige (now known as Saraya) and Kaitlyn (Celeste Bonin), are the wrestlers she’d most like to see back in the company.
Lee feuded extensively with both women during her original WWE run from 2012 to 2014. The three competed in a handful of televised singles matches during that period, creating some of the most memorable women’s division moments of that era.
AJ Lee Calls for Paige and Kaitlyn’s Return
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Lee made her pitch for bringing back both former superstars.
“I love Paige… if I could bring somebody back, her and Kaitlyn. Let’s get them back.”
AJ Lee spoke particularly warmly about Paige, describing their relationship during their time together in WWE.
“We’d always joke that I was her fairy godmother and I just took her under my wing and tried to protect her,” Lee revealed.
Paige Deserves to See WWE’s Progress
The champion believes Paige would thrive in today’s WWE environment. Lee praised the current locker room culture and the strides the women’s division has made in recent years.
“She’s so talented and I knew it from day one. It would be kind of heartwarming and healing, and she would be a great addition to this locker room. I think this place has really come a long way and the women work together so beautifully, and they’re so supportive. I would love for her to experience just how fun it is now.”
Lee defends her Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch on night one of WrestleMania 42.
