Nikki Bella Discusses Realizing She Couldn’t Make WrestleMania 42, Paige Taking Her Place

During today’s edition of The Nikki & Brie Show on Sirius XM, WWE Hall of Famer and Superstar Nikki Bella discussed suffering an ankle injury last month that forced her to withdraw from her scheduled title match at WrestleMania 42. As a result, Paige (aka Saraya) made her long-awaited WWE return, taking Nikki’s place.

Brie Bella and Paige ultimately won the match and the titles. Nikki Bella detailed finding out she couldn’t make WrestleMania 42 and Paige taking her place. Below are some highlights from Sirius XM:

Nikki Bella on Knowing She Was Out at WrestleMania 42

“That, I immediately knew WrestleMania is done, right? So, that already tore me apart, and then stepping in knowing Paige, of course, that’s hard. It was even hard in the moment. All of it was hard because it’s not like we’re 30, and we know, like, “Oh, it’s fine. We’re going to get moments here.” We are literally on our last run, and I don’t think a WrestleMania moment for me is going to come around. I get that I’ll probably have my last WrestleMania next year in Saudi maybe, but other than that, that will be it for me, so this would have been my last WrestleMania moment to share with family members and share with people here and, you know, really feel something and I’ve worked really hard the past year and a half and I haven’t complained. I’ve done what I’ve been told, you know, I’ve helped put people over, even though I don’t care about that, but really, as far as my character and the impact that I can have, I’ve been very okay taking a step back and helping out and not *****ing about it, so this was my moment that I worked really hard for this past year and a half and for that to all go away is extremely hard and knowing too, like I’m very smart on knowing forever and I had to really sit back as I was elevating my leg 24 hours a day and really be like, ‘That moment’s gone,’ so we got to heal from that and we got to know like, you’re not getting that back.

“It’ll never be first time tag team champions, The Bella Twins. You’re a tag team champ. You will be a two-time if we ever win; I’ll be a one-time, but we may never even tag again. I don’t even know. We don’t know, and I will say because of my age and being a mom, and I think more about longevity of life, so for me, I’m going to make sure this heals up so well before I even step in that ring. You know, right now we’re thinking it’s six to eight weeks, but if it’s three months, it’s three months because I have the rest of my life to chase Matteo on soccer fields and do all the things without being in pain. I’m not in my thirties anymore. I’m not in my twenties anymore, so I’m not going to try to come back quick to gain a moment. The moment’s passed. There’s going to be other moments. This is a journey in life. God did this for a reason. You know, my faith makes me believe in that. God wouldn’t have had this happen to me if there isn’t a reason, and the reason’s going to come, and I’m going to see it, and I’m going to go, “Thank you, God. This is why this happened, and look at the great things that brought me.”

Brie Bella on Nearly Withdrawing From the Match After Nikki Got Injured

Brie Bella: “Obviously, there was a big part of me where I had really long talks with Bryan where I was like, “I don’t know, I think I should pull out. I just think I should pull out.”

Nikki Bella: “I know you were even saying that to me. Like, “I can’t do this without you.”

Brie Garcia: “Right, because it’s not the moment’s with us and I kept saying that and Bryan’s like, you know, ‘Go with your heart,’ but also, you know, he and I talked, and then we were kind of like, ‘But in our business, opportunity rarely comes,’ and especially at our ages. It is rare you get a phone call. ‘Hey, we want you back. We want you to do something really incredible,’ so when you say no to it, you’re almost a fool.”

Nikki on Paige Replacing Her

“Right, and there wouldn’t, like honestly, this is where things are truly meant to be, and I’m not even just saying this, there is not one person, and I know I said it on the post show on ESPN, but there’s not one, if you were to tell me one person to pick to take my spot, like one person, not because someone was cleared, anyone that they’re like, ‘We will bring her back in a heartbeat.’ Who would that be? It would be Paige, and if Paige, let’s just say, said no, I would be like, ‘Brie, there’s no one that makes sense. There’s not one person that makes sense to step in and mean something.’ Paige is the only person that actually means something. Paige is family. We love Paige like a sister. We’ve all been through so much together. We’re total divas together. We’ve done a lot together, and Paige is like my soul sister in the ring. She has been my favorite person to work with. We’ve always called ourselves wrestling soulmates, so honestly, it felt right to me, and it was perfect, and Paige is home. If this helped, like, you know, really get her back, she’s been meant to come back here. She should be at WWE, so it makes me happy for her on that part.”

As previously noted, Nikki Bella revealed on social media after WrestleMania 42 that she hopes to be ready to return to the ring in six to eight weeks.