Paige went to hug her partners. They put her on the mat instead.
Fatal Influence beat The Bella Twins and Paige in seven and a half minutes on Night 1 of SummerSlam at U.S. Bank Stadium, then watched the real story unfold behind them.
Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid worked Brie over for most of it, using a referee distraction to run her into the steel steps. Brie fought to her corner and tagged Nikki, who cleared the ring and nearly put Reid away with the Rack Attack 2.0 before Jayne broke it up. Paige tagged in late, got a sunset flip on Jayne and could not hold her. Jayne answered with the Rolling Encore for the win.
The turn came seconds later. Paige embraced Brie and Nikki, and both sisters attacked her. They targeted her neck as commentary pointed to her injury history, and Nikki shouted that this was her house before leaving Paige lying. She was heard saying Paige would never take her spot.
Nikki has been asking for this. She told Joey Karni recently that she had been begging to go heel because it comes naturally to her, and that Brie’s Royal Rumble return was what changed the plan.
The symmetry is hard to miss. Nikki turned on Brie in the middle of a SummerSlam match twelve years ago. This time the sisters did it together.
Fatal Influence took the tag titles off Brie and Paige at Saturday Night’s Main Event last month. Nikki returned on the July 24 SmackDown to even the odds and made this match. Six nights later she was the one doing the damage.
