Paige’s first NXT match in more than 12 years already came with plenty of emotion, but there was apparently much more happening behind the scenes than fans knew. Not only was the former NXT Women’s Champion unusually nervous about coming home, she wasn’t even originally supposed to be Kelani Jordan’s mystery challenger.
Speaking on Busted Open After Dark following the November 4 episode of NXT, Paige opened up about returning to the brand where she became the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion. Despite everything she has experienced throughout her career, Paige admitted this return made her more nervous than WrestleMania.
“It’s definitely wild to be asked to come back, you know, and be a part of NXT again. Because, yeah, when NXT started, a lot of us were the ones that kind of, you know, ignited this, you know, made it what it is.”
Being back inside an NXT ring after more than 12 years brought those emotions rushing back, and Paige admitted she had serious nerves before walking through the curtain.
“And again, it’s been over 12 years since I’ve been home and in an NXT ring, and it’s just, man, I had chills. I had chills. Before I went out there, I was really, really nervous, and it was the most nervous I’ve been since I came back, even more nervous than Mania.”
For Paige, those nerves came from wanting to deliver in the place she still considers home. She also felt a responsibility to give Jordan the best match possible.
“And I was like, ‘Why am I so nervous?’ But it’s just, I’m like, ‘This is where I started. This is my home, and I hope I do a good job for the home crowd.’ And I wanted to do a good job for Kelani, too. And yeah, I feel like we did together. We made a masterpiece there, at least to me.”
But Paige then revealed something even more surprising about how the match came together. When Tommy Dreamer asked how much preparation she had beforehand, Paige said WWE originally had somebody else planned for the spot.
“No, so I got told last minute because it wasn’t actually supposed to be me.”
According to Paige, Triple H personally approached her while WWE was in Brooklyn for its double taping and asked whether she would be willing to head down to NXT. She immediately agreed, even if the request caught her off guard.
“And then Triple H pulled me aside when we were in Brooklyn, because we were doing the double taping out there, and he said, ‘Do you mind going down to NXT?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, s***.’ Sorry about this. I was like, ‘Oh, okay. Yeah, definitely. I could definitely do that,’ you know?”
That last-minute call also meant Paige didn’t have much time to get ready for Jordan. She jokingly suggested that a little more preparation might have changed the result.
“But it didn’t give me much time to prepare, and, you know, maybe if I prepared a little bit more, I would’ve won. But hey, it is what it is. I know what to do next time if I get a little bit of time.”
Paige ultimately came up short after Jordan countered the RamPaige into a rollup to retain the NXT Women’s Championship. Considering Paige wasn’t originally planned for the match and received the call on short notice, though, her comments also leave one interesting unanswered question — who WWE initially had lined up to face Jordan before Triple H turned to her.
Who do you think WWE originally planned to have face Kelani Jordan before Paige got the last-minute call from Triple H? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
