Nick Khan Set Two Major Conditions For Paige’s WWE Return
Paige’s return to WWE happened quickly, but with a couple of conditions from the company’s president, Nick Khan.
Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis) came out to a huge pop at WrestleMania 42 when she was announced by Nikki Bella as her replacement for the fatal four-way Women’s Tag Team Championship match.
Paige teamed up with Nikki’s sister Brie Bella, and the pair defeated the three other teams in the contest to become new Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Paige worked at AEW from 2022 to 2025 but took a break from wrestling after March 2025. She revealed in a recent podcast sit-down with Stephanie McMahon on What’s Your Story? to detail her comeback and how it happened.
She said that a few people helped her get back to WWE, including Jelly Roll, her close friend Bunnie XO, and The Rock’s agent Brad Slater, who called up WWE President Nick Khan to get things moving.
However, Nick Khan would place two conditions in front of Paige for her to complete her return.
Nick Khan Wanted Paige To Be Medically Cleared Ahead Of WWE Return
Paige suffered a neck injury back in 2017 that almost cut her career short, and even did so by a few years, as she had to take a long break.
To be on the safer side, Nick Khan told her that she could come back to WWE to wrestle again, provided her neck is completely fine and if she passes a drug test.
He (Nick Khan) goes, ‘Two things: your neck needs to be okay, and we have to do a drug test.’ I was like, ‘Fair enough—hey, I can control the drug test, I’m clean as a whistle. I don’t know how my neck’s been—it’s been a few years since I got it checked.
This led to some intense medical testing, and there was a moment where Paige thought her return almost wouldn’t happen.
The next week I fly to Birmingham—Nikki was there getting her ankle done at the same time. That’s super weird—I was like, ‘What the heck.’ It was perfect timing. So I was at the doctor there from like 5:45 a.m. till 3 or 4 in the afternoon doing all these tests, because you guys need to be thorough, make sure my neck is perfect.
And at one point I thought something was wrong because all the doctors were around the screen, calling other doctors. I was like, ‘Something’s happening—they’re not gonna let me go back.’ And I’m exhausted sitting there, and he comes in and he’s like, ‘You ready to go home, kid?’ I bawled my eyes out. I cried my eyes out.
Although her neck was cleared, she was still worried she may have had something like a pill that would have her fail the drug test. Fortunately for Paige, she managed to clear both tests as ordered by Nick Khan and make a successful return.
“It was a couple things—the fact that my neck was good. The last time I was in WWE, my neck wasn’t, and I had to retire… And it’s just the fact that I’m gonna be okay—I was like, ‘Wow, my neck is good. I’m happy, I’m healthy, everything’s going right.’ And then for some reason I had it in my head like, ‘What if I ate something—like a poppy seed or something?’ I hadn’t even taken ibuprofen—I was so worried about any kind of medicinal stuff… Anyway, I was fine. They were like, ‘You’re good, calm down.
So yeah, I was completely cleared, and then it kinda went into negotiations… and then this weekend was obviously Mania, so it was a quick turnaround.