Will a Two-Time Divas Champion Return at the 2026 Royal Rumble?

The 2026 Royal Rumble is just days away, and there is a ton of uncertainty, but in a good way that’s piquing interest from the WWE Universe. First, there’s the possibility that ‘The Ring General’ Gunther retires ‘The Phenomenal One’ AJ Styles in a career-threatening match. Next, there’s the winner of the Fatal Four-Way at Saturday Night’s Main Event, Sami Zayn, taking on the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Then, of course, you have both the Women’s and Men’s Royal Rumble matches, both of which will be filled with excitement, shock, and surprises. Within the Women’s Royal Rumble, there could be one highly anticipated return that a ton of the WWE Universe has been waiting for a long while. That being the comeback of two-time WWE Divas Champion Paige or Saraya, which happens to be her real name and the name she chose when signing with AEW. While reports seem mixed about this return, the WWE Universe is begging for it to happen.

Paige signed her WWE contract back in 2011. Once FCW was re-branded to what is now known as NXT, she went on a huge winning streak with a ton of fan support. In 2013, she entered a tournament to determine the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion. Paige would defeat Tamina, Alicia Fox, and then Emma in the finals to become champion. The inaugural champion held her title for nearly a year, yet she never lost the title to begin with. The day after WrestleMania XXX, Paige made her Monday Night Raw debut and defeated the WWE Divas Champion, AJ Lee, which forced her to relinquish the NXT Women’s Championship. At 21 years old, she became the youngest superstar to win the Divas Championship. Paige held onto the championship for 84 days before losing the title back to Lee on the June 30th, 2014, episode of Raw. At SummerSlam 2014, the former NXT Women’s Champion won the Divas Championship for a second time after defeating Lee again. A month later, at Night of Champions, Lee would regain the title in a triple-threat match involving Nikki Bella. Eventually, at WrestleMania 31, Paige and Lee teamed up against Nikki and Brie Bella, in which Paige would win her debut match at WrestleMania. A year later, at WrestleMania 32, Paige was involved in a 10-Diva tag team match where her team won.

At the start of 2016, the two-time Divas Champion started to develop neck issues that affected her career. She underwent a successful neck surgery and was cleared for in-ring action in September 2017. She returned in November, but a month later, she suffered another injury to her neck, which led her to retire in December 2017. Paige became the SmackDown general manager in 2018 and was active in the role for a few years before letting her contract expire in 2022, ending her 11-year run with WWE. In September 2022, Paige, now known as Saraya, made her AEW debut. In her home country of England, at All In 2023, Saraya became the AEW Women’s World Champion by defeating Hikaru Shida, Toni Storm, and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. She held onto the championship for 44 days before losing the title back to Shida. As of March 2025, Saraya announced her departure from AEW and has been a free agent since.

There’s certainly a good chance we'll see the two-time Divas Champion return at the 2026 Royal Rumble. While Paige had a solid run in her 11 years in WWE, it could have lived up to so much more if she hadn’t sustained those brutal neck injuries. She was a crucial factor and piece within the women’s revolution of WWE, which led to how tremendous and uplifting the Women’s Division on Raw, SmackDown, and NXT has become. There’s surely a part of her that has to miss what she built and accomplished in WWE. Coming back home to WWE would mean she gets to feud with new superstars while re-creating old feuds against the likes of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. Another World Championship must also have her eyes on WWE, as it’s certainly deserving for her to win after everything she’s been through in her career. This could be a now-or-never moment that WWE and Paige need to capitalize on.

If Paige enters the 2026 Women’s Royal Rumble, I would not expect her to win. My expectation is for Liv Morgan to win after being a runner-up for two years. Yet if signed to the roster full-time, I would predict Paige goes on a great run and wins numerous titles across Raw and SmackDown. Coming back at the Rumble could showcase what she still has left in the tank and remind the WWE Universe how dominant a superstar she is. At 33 years of age, the two-time Divas Champion is still at the height of her career and can continue building what she did not finish in WWE. I believe there’s a good possibility Paige returns and has one of the biggest pops of the night.