Paige says she was not the original plan to face Kelani Jordan on Wednesday’s NXT, and that the match came together at the last minute.

Paige returned to NXT as Jordan’s mystery opponent for the NXT Women’s Championship, and Jordan retained. Speaking afterward with Tommy Dreamer on Busted Open After Dark on SiriusXM, Paige said Triple H asked her to do it while WWE was in Brooklyn for Monday’s Raw.

“So I got told last minute because it wasn’t actually supposed to be me. Triple H pulled me aside when we were in Brooklyn because we were doing the double taping out there. He said, ‘Do you mind going down to NXT?’ I was like, ‘Oh sh*t. Okay, yeah, definitely. I could definitely do that,'” Paige said.

She joked that she might have won with more time.

“It didn’t give me much time to prepare. 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,” she said.

PWInsider reported on Wednesday that Paige had been brought into Orlando ahead of the show. Jordan retained the title against Wren Sinclair at Halloween Havoc on Saturday before NXT general manager Robert Stone booked her against a mystery opponent.

Paige was the first NXT Women’s Champion, winning the title in 2013. She returned to WWE at WrestleMania 42 in April and won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship with Brie Bella that night.

NXT moved to Wednesday this week because of The CW’s election coverage, airing head to head with AEW Dynamite: Blood and Guts. NXT normally airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

SCREAM FOR HER 😈

Paige is BACK in #WWENXT to challenge Kelani Jordan for the Title! pic.twitter.com/JwBicEjzvZ

— WWE (@WWE) November 5, 2026

Kelani Jordan SURVIVES and retains against Paige! 👏@kelani_wwe pic.twitter.com/EdKaUwlWgT

— WWE (@WWE) November 5, 2026