{"id":164878,"date":"2026-07-24T20:41:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T00:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=164878"},"modified":"2026-07-24T22:07:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T02:07:27","slug":"nikki-bella-returns-to-wwe-on-7-24-smackdown-summerslam-2026-match-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/07\/24\/nikki-bella-returns-to-wwe-on-7-24-smackdown-summerslam-2026-match-set\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikki Bella Returns to WWE on 7\/24 SmackDown, SummerSlam 2026 Match Set"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nikki Bella has been out of action since before WrestleMania 42. Of course, where there’s misfortune, there’s opportunity, as Paige would be her replacement, tagging with her sister Brie Bella to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at the “Grandest Stage of Them All.” At SummerSlam 2026, we’ll see another memorable moment.<\/p>\n

Nikki Bella Returns to Action at WWE SummerSlam 2026<\/h2>\n

Brie Bella took on Lainey Reid, one-half of Fatal Influence, who took the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships from her and Paige at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, on this week’s SmackDown<\/a>. Reid got a cheap shot early in the match, then assumed control of the bout after that. But Brie Bella would not go away easily, and it all happened so fast. As Reid tried to cheat her way to a victory, Brie would catch it in time and roll her up for the win.<\/p>\n

\"WWE
WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event in MSG graphic featuring Fatal Influence and Brie Bella and Paige. (Photo Credit: WWE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Post-match, Fatal Influence- Reid, Jacy Jayne, and Fallon Henley- would attack like wild dogs, trouncing Paige and a tired Brie Bella. Before they could do more damage, former record-breaking WWE Divas Champions<\/a> Nikki Bella would make her grand return to WWE<\/a> after being on the shelf for nearly four months.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Nikki would get on the mic, saying that these “b*tches” are only in the “big leagues” because of them, and she’s sick of their privilege. Nikki Bella would go on to challenge them at SummerSlam<\/a>: The Bella Twins and Paige versus Fatal Influence.<\/p>\n

It’s been a long while since Nikki was in a WWE ring, as she and Brie were gunning for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. Maybe this is the first step to getting The Bella Twins their crowning achievement as a team. For now, SummerSlam is stacked with a blockbuster multi-woman tag match. At the “Biggest Party of the Summer,” The Bella Twins and Paige take on the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Fatal Influence!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: By Diego Serrano – WWE Royal Rumble 2025, CC BY 2.0,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Image
Photo by Diego Serrano, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nikki Bella has been out of action since before WrestleMania 42. Of course, where there’s misfortune, there’s opportunity, as Paige would be her replacement, tagging with her sister Brie Bella to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at the “Grandest Stage of Them All.” At SummerSlam 2026, we’ll see another memorable moment. Nikki Bella […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3735,"featured_media":145080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2,12,2192,26,3,320],"tags":[8992,254,9723,6447],"class_list":["post-164878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwe","category-featured","category-news","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe-universe","category-wwe-women","tag-fatal-influence","tag-nikki-bella","tag-summerslam-2026","tag-the-bella-twins"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3735"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164878"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164899,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164878\/revisions\/164899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}