Paige wins championship, creates major WrestleMania moment in WWE return

A major surprise arrived for many fans at WrestleMania 42 as former two-time WWE Divas Champion Paige officially returned for her first in-ring appearance in eight years.

She made her official entrance after The Bella Twins came out onto the stage for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal Four-Way match, the third on the Night 1 card. Nikki Bella, on crutches, indicated she tried everything to participate in the match but didn’t have medical clearance to.

However, she said she called in an “old friend” to help out her sister Brie so that she wouldn’t miss out on her big WrestleMania moment. With that, Paige’s entrance music hit as she walked out on stage to a massive pop from the thousands of fans at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The finish of the match saw Paige get laid out in the ring by Charlotte, and Alexa Bliss set up on the top rope for her finishing move. However, Nikki yanked Charlotte out of the ring and then hit her with the crutch to distract Alexa momentarily.

Alexa went for Twisted Bliss, but Paige blocked it with both knees up. From there, she stood up and used her trademark finisher on Alexa before pinning her to win the tag team championship.

Video quickly surfaced of all of the moments, including her return entrance, and her winning the championship in a historic return.

“Biggest pop of the weekend so far. Welcome back, Paige,” a commenter said.

“We got Paige, AJ lee, Bella Twins prime WWE women Divas is back,” one commenter wrote on X.

“FINALLY!!!!!! I got AJ and now Paige!!!! It couldn’t get much better than this for me!!” another commenter said.

“Some comebacks are overrated… this one isn’t Paige earned EVERYTHING,” someone wrote.

“Good surprise as I assumed she was going to get involved in the AJ and Becky match later,” a commenter speculated.

Paige was part of WWE eight years ago, but WWE said she didn’t have medical clearance to return to in-ring competition after an in-ring neck injury. That led to her securing various TV roles, including as the SmackDown general manager and manager of the Kabuki Warriors.

More news: WrestleMania 42 Stage Reveal Draws Heavy Criticism From Fans

She’d eventually decide to exit the company and sign with Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling (AEW). At that time, she had medical clearance to work matches for AEW, leading to her winning their Women’s Championship once and participating in various feuds. She officially departed AEW last year, opening the door for WWE to sign her ahead of WrestleMania 42.

However, she’s now back and seemingly added another championship to her resume, after previous reigns with the NXT Women’s Championship and Divas Championship.

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