Nikki Bella had the option to turn down Paige being Brie’s partner at WrestleMania 42
As seen during WWE WrestleMania 42 Saturday, Paige made a surprise return to WWE and won the women’s tag team titles with Brie Bella. While speaking to the Battleground podcast, the injured Nikki Bella commented on Paige replacing her…
“Right before I literally landed in Birmingham to get surgery—Paul [Triple H], he was texting me in there and he goes, ‘Hey, I really need to talk to you.’
And I was like, ‘Oh, well, I don’t land…’ I had just taken off from Newark to, like, head to Birmingham. I’m like, ‘I think I’m in air for like 3 hours.’
And I remember him texting me again like, ‘Have you landed yet?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, he has something important to say.’
But Brie and Paige had been communicating more, like that she was already in Birmingham.
And then he called me and he’s like, ‘So let me know how you feel.’ Like, he totally gave me the option of like, ‘Paige is available to take your place.’
He really teed it up, and I agreed that would be the one person that would make it so meaningful and blah blah blah and all the things, which—agreed.
He’s like, ‘If you want to say no, I mean that’s up to you.’
And I was like, ‘No, that is the one person, actually, that would make the moment feel super iconic. She’s like our sister.’
We have incredible chemistry, and Paige is a massive superstar. Like, massive superstar.
So, it was perfect.”