WrestleMania 42: Paige Takes Injured Nikki Bella’s Spot in Epic Return to WWE

After being away from WWE for almost four years, Paige plotted her comeback at WrestleMania 42.

WrestleMania 42: Paige Takes Injured Nikki Bella’s Spot in Epic Return to WWE

Paige celebrating with The Bella Twins at WrestleMania 42 [via- WFIN]

WrestleMania has given the WWE Universe a ton of memorable moments over the years, and the first night of its 42nd edition added a major one to it with the return of Paige. She replaced an injured Nikki Bella to tag alongside her twin sister Brie Bella. ‘The Fearless One’ had been in walking boots for weeks after having suffered an unfortunate ankle injury.

Bella announced that she tried but couldn’t receive the medical nod from WWE to compete. The former Barmageddon host affirmed that she didn’t want to ruin Brie’s WrestleMania moment and consequently rang up an old friend to take her place. Paige’s music sent chills across the Allegiant Stadium, and she looked ecstatic with the crowd reaction.

This year marked her first WrestleMania match since 2016, and she made it count. Paige and Brie Bella captured the WWE women’s tag team titles in a Fatal-4-way match including teams like Nia Jax & Lash Legend, Bayley & Lyra Valkyria, and Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss. Speaking of some of the highlights from the match, Brie used the Daniel Bryan-made-famous Yes kicks against Valkyria and Flair.

Paige got the crowd fired up when she received the hot tag. The former Divas Champion singlehandedly took out Jax, Flair, and Bayley in a flurry of offenses. The ending came when Bliss had Paige in the drop zone and was about to put her away with the Twisted Bliss. Bliss’ tag partner Charlotte Flair, however, got attacked by Nikki Bella with crutches at ringside.

That distraction cost Bliss, who succumbed to the Rampage by Paige. The latter went for the cover and picked up the win to become the brand-new women’s tag team champions alongside Brie Bella. The fans were on their feet for that and came unglued as soon as the erstwhile Saraya got the pinfall.

Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan crowned new champions at WrestleMania 42

Competing in her first WrestleMania match since 2015, where she tagged with Paige against The Bella Twins, AJ Lee defended the women’s Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch on Saturday night in Las Vegas. It just didn’t end well for Lee. She fell to Lynch’s theatrics. ‘The Man’ pulled the referee in between her and Lee in the closing moments, also having exposed a turnbuckle.

Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan were victorious at WrestleMania 42
Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan were victorious at WrestleMania 42 [via- Fox News]

A distracted referee couldn’t see Lynch bouncing Lee’s face first into that exposed turnbuckle. The Irishwoman followed it up with the Manhandle Slam to become a 3-time women’s IC Champion in WWE. ‘The Crazy Chick’ had made ‘Big Time Becks’ tap out to the Black Widow thrice since coming back to WWE last September. But Lynch got the last laugh, and that too at the grandest stage imaginable.

Lee revealed in a post-match promo that it was her favorite WrestleMania moment even though she lost. She thanked her fans for wearing her merch and skipping along with her on this comeback journey. The former Divas Champion alluded to stepping away from WWE for a while.

She did say that it wasn’t a goodbye from her and that she hoped to be back soon enough. Right before the main event, Stephanie Vaquer defended the women’s world title against Liv Morgan, who had a magnificent entrance with the reveal of her new theme song.

Speaking of their short-lived match, which was disappointing to many given how heated their feud had been, Morgan kicked out of an Oblivion attempt from Vaquer. The latter also had to take care of the Judgment Day. ‘La Primera’ jumped on Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez off the top rope to tame them. Morgan took advantage of it by sending Vaquer into the steel steps.

She followed it up with a top-rope-assisted Code Breaker and the Oblivion to become the new women’s world champion. Morgan celebrated with her Judgment Day stablemates in its aftermath. This was Liv Morgan’s first singles match at WrestleMania, and turned out to be exactly how she wanted it to go.

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