During an appearance on What’s Your Story with Stephanie McMahon, Paige talked about the road to her WWE return at WrestleMania 42, where she teamed with Brie Bella to fill in for an injured Nikki Bella to compete for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Recounting her process in making a return to the company where she famously defeated AJ Lee in her main roster debut for the WWE Divas Championship, Paige discussed speaking with Jelly Roll, his wife Bunnie Xo, and Rock’s agent Brad Slater during a book tour appearance:
She (Bunnie Xo) was doing her book tour and she was doing her live podcast and she was in L.A. so she texted me being like, ‘Can you come on?’ I was like, ‘Absolutely,’ and so I get there and then her manager comes and gets me, and she’s like, ‘Hey, you got a friend in there’ and I was like, ‘Who!?’ And I go down there and it’s Brad Slater. So that’s Dwayne’s agent, and I’ve known him for over 10 years because of ‘Fighting with My Family’ and stuff. Great guy. Always checks in on me. Every six months, I get a text from him, and so he was in there and he’s like, ‘It’s so great to see you –’ gives me a big hug and then Jelly (Roll) was just like, ‘What the f–k! When are you gonna bring her back? Give a call to your guy and stuff’ and Brad looks at me, he’s like, ‘Do you want to come back?’ And I was just like, ‘Yeah, I would love to come back…’ And then he’s like, ‘Alright, let me make a call.’ So he calls Nick (Khan), and within 30 minutes, Nick had said, ‘Sure. Let’s get a meeting with her.’ So, a week later, he flies to L.A. to the WWE offices out there.
On meeting with Nick Khan and doctors, she added:
went and met him for about 10 minutes. Great guy. Love him. Big fan of him. Super smart. Oh my gosh… He goes, ‘Two things: Your neck has to be okay, and we have to do a drug test.’ I was like, ‘Fair enough. I can control the drug test. I’m clean as a whistle,’ and so, I was like, ‘I don’t know how my neck’s been. It’s been a few years since I got it checked but last time I got it checked, it was perfect so I’m not really concerned about it…’ The next week, I fly to Birmingham. Nikki (Bella) was there getting her ankle done. Same time. That’s super weird. I was like, ‘What the heck?’ It was perfect timing, and so, I was at the doctor there from like 5:45 AM until 3 or 4 in the afternoon doing all these tests, because you guys have to be thorough, right? Make sure my neck is perfect, and at one point, I thought something was wrong because all the doctors around the screen just being like, ‘Hmm.’ Calling other doctors… And I’m exhausted just sitting there, you know?
Waiting for the answer and then he comes in and he was like, ‘Are you ready to go home, kid?…’ I balled my eyes out. We actually have clips of it. My friend was recording it. I cried my eyes out. It was a couple things. The fact that my neck was good… Last time I was in WWE, my neck wasn’t and I had to retire and I had to miss out on all these massive things like the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber and all these things… I was completely cleared and then it kind of went into negotiations and then ‘Mania… we were getting all that done, and then this weekend was obviously ‘Mania…
Paige retired in April 2018 following a neck injury sustained a few months prior, remaining with WWE in a non-wrestling role until her departure in June 2022.
Following her AEW debut in September 2022, Paige (competing as Saraya) had her first in-ring match in nearly five years when she faced Britt Baker at Full Gear, kicking off a run of nearly three years with the company before announcing her departure in March 2025.
Source: Fightful