Paige Makes Shock Return At WrestleMania 42, Wins Gold (WWE News)

Paige is back in WWE!

By Andrew Pollard /

WWE

One of the genuine standout moments of WrestleMania 42 Night 1, Paige made her surprise WWE return last night.

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Heading into 'Mania, there was plentiful speculation over Nikki Bella's status, with the WWE Hall of Famer picking up an ankle injury last month. That speculation suggested that, should Nikki be unable to compete, the Kabuki Warriors might replace the Bellas in the four-way match for the Women's Tag Team Titles, featuring defending champs Nia Jax and Lash Legend, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, and Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss.

Instead, WrestleMania 42 Night 1 saw the Bellas make their entrance for that tag team match, only for Nikki - who was on a crutch and in a walking boot - to announce that she hadn't been cleared to compete. However, Nikki then said that she'd called an "old friend" to take her place in that match alongside Brie, and with that, Paige made her shock return to the company.

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Not just did Paige make her return to WWE, though, for she's also now one-half of the Women's Tag Team Champions, scoring the win for her team by hitting the RamPaige DDT on Alexa Bliss for the 1-2-3.

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Paige had previously been with WWE from 2011 through until 2022, though the last four years of that run were spent in non-wrestling roles, be that as the SmackDown General Manager, the manager of the Kabuki Warriors, an analyst on the short-lived WWE Backstage, or as a talking head on various WWE projects.

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Of course, Paige announced her in-ring retirement in early 2018 due to significant neck issues. Skip ahead to September 2022, and the former Divas Champion would debut at AEW Grand Slam, restarting her in-ring career after overcoming those neck issues, and would go on to have a 44-day run as the AEW Women's Champion. That big title win came at All In 2023, at a packed Wembley Stadium, in a moment that was a clear highlight of what unfortunately became a somewhat so-so run in All Elite for the Brit.

That AEW stint came to an end in March 2025, and the second-generation star has spent the past year or so talking up how she'd like to return to WWE at some point in the future. And now, that WWE return - which was rumoured in the hours leading up to WrestleMania 42 Night 1 - has finally happened.

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