This past Saturday on night one of WrestleMania 42, Paige shockingly returned to WWE in the Fatal Four Way Match for the Women's Tag Team Championships, as she filled in for Nikki Bella, who was unable to compete alongside her sister Brie Bella due to an ankle injury. When the new champions were crowned, many questioned if Paige's involvement was the only reason she and Brie Bella won the titles, but according to Dave Meltzer on the "Wrestling Observer Radio," the plan was always for The Bellas to emerge victorious."Paige was a good backup for this. The Bellas were going to win the match. That was always the plan when they brought Brie backbecause Nikki kind of had done her singles run and not really done anything of note. So they figured Nikki's under contract and everything else, let's bring Brie back and have the nostalgia of The Bellas winning the tag titles which didn't exist before. So that was the whole story of the why Brie got brought back and Paige stepped in as a replacement."Ahead of WrestleMania 42, it was reported that Paige had signed a multi-year contract with WWE on Friday, but there were other plans for theFatal Four Way Match with the two-time Divas Champion's involvement being a late decision. During an interview over the weekend, Asuka revealed that the Kabuki Warriors were on standby to fill in for The Bellas if Nikki was unable to get cleared. However, once Paige became available for Saturday and her contract had been signed, it seemingly removed any chance of the Kabuki Warriors making it onto the WrestleMania card.If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
