Paige’s gear looked like it had been designed by somebody who spent 2004 living entirely inside Kerrang magazine.
Black leather. Red flames. Slightly chaotic energy. The aesthetic of somebody who still thinks every problem can be solved by eyeliner and Paramore lyrics. Which, to be fair, remains one of wrestling’s more reliable philosophies.
The moment Paige walked onto WWE Smackdown alongside Brie Bella, the atmosphere shifted into something oddly nostalgic and slightly dangerous. Not because the match itself carried enormous stakes in isolation, but because modern wrestling audiences still react strangely when confronted by people they once believed they would never see wrestle again.
Every Paige match now comes with a low-level background hum of concern.
Not panic.
Just awareness.
The body remembers.
Brie Bella Looking Alarmingly Comfortable Again
One of the genuinely surprising things about this match was how little ring rust Brie Bella appeared to have.
There are returning wrestlers who move like somebody trying to assemble IKEA furniture without instructions. Then there are wrestlers who disappear for years and somehow reappear moving like they only missed a fortnight recovering from flu.
Brie increasingly feels like the second category.
Once the opening exchanges settled down and both partners tagged in, the match suddenly found its real identity: Giulia versus Paige.
And immediately it felt like a feud with actual legs to it.
Giulia’s kick to Paige’s midsection landed with that sharp, unpleasant snap that joshi wrestling often produces better than American television wrestling. Corner strikes followed. Then the flexing. Then the suplex.
Everything looked violent in a very controlled way.
Giulia herself looked physically tremendous too. She has been flooding social media recently with workout clips and training footage, and it shows. There is something increasingly sculpted and deliberate about her presentation now, less wandering chaos-machine and more precision-built Mechagodzilla entering its upgraded second form.
Not subtle.
Not elegant.
Just terrifyingly complete.
The Curious Thing About Giulia’s Selling
There was an interesting tension running through the match though, and it centred around Giulia’s selling.
Not disastrous.
Not even bad, really.
Just occasionally slightly disconnected from WWE rhythm.
Japanese wrestling often values endurance differently. WWE values emotional readability above almost everything. Timing, facial reactions, escalation, recovery speed. Tiny things. Invisible things until they are suddenly all you notice.
There were a couple of moments early on where Paige’s offence didn’t quite seem to register with Giulia naturally enough, and for a second the match drifted slightly out of sync. Then Kiana James got involved and oddly reset the entire structure.
Which says a lot about Kiana James WWE performances recently.
She is becoming glue.
Her timing throughout the middle stretch stabilised everything. Positioning sharp. Reactions sharp. Transitions clean. Also physically she looks in exceptional condition again, noticeably more sculpted than even a few months ago.
People still talk about Kiana like she is a supporting character orbiting bigger stars. Increasingly that feels outdated.
Wrestling Is Sometimes Just People Adjusting Their Gear
Paige having to awkwardly readjust her ring gear midway through the match somehow added to the realism of the whole thing.
Wrestling is funny like that.
You can perform a technically difficult sequence involving rotational momentum and coordinated impact timing, but then spend ten seconds visibly fighting your own trousers on live television.
And yes, it immediately brought back memories of Paige’s original run and the strange internet mythology that follows her around to this day. These are the moments wrestling fans never entirely forget, mostly because wrestling fans possess the memory retention of medieval archivists when it comes to minor scandal.
If people know, they know.
If they don’t, honestly, good for them.
Brie Mode Still Works Because Memory Is Stronger Than Logic
After the commercial break, Giulia resumed systematically working Paige in the corner before Paige hit a genuinely nice sunset flip reversal that shifted the pace completely.
Then came the hot tag.
Then came Brie Mode.
And the crowd reacted exactly the way crowds always react to familiar catchphrases. Loudly. Instinctively. Like people hearing the opening riff of a song they claimed to outgrow fifteen years ago.
These things never fully leave audiences.
Brie shouting “BRIE MODE!” still generates noise because wrestling crowds are powered almost entirely by emotional muscle memory.
Not logic.
Never logic.
Giulia and Kiana James Might Actually Belong Together
Ironically, the more the match tried to tell the story of Giulia and Kiana falling apart, the more interesting they became as a pairing.
Because when they clicked, they really clicked.
Kiana landing that huge codebreaker on Brie before Giulia immediately flowed into the Northern Lights suplex was probably the best pure tag sequence in the match. Fast. Fluid. Aggressive. Actual tandem wrestling rather than alternating singles offence.
It should have been three.
Paige breaking up the pin felt important because the challengers finally looked cohesive for about eight consecutive seconds, which in wrestling terms is practically a long-term relationship.
That is why the eventual collapse worked.
The slight miscue where Kiana avoided Paige’s running attack only for Giulia to absorb the impact herself was tiny, but perfect. Giulia’s facial expression afterwards sold the entire story better than any backstage segment could.
Not explosive anger.
Just irritation.
The look of somebody questioning why they are sharing oxygen with this person.
The Finish Felt Human
Kiana James then hit a lovely superkick on Brie Bella before attempting the standing moonsault.
Brie got her knees up.
Kiana sold the impact brilliantly. Not cartoonishly. Just properly winded, the kind of body-collapse that makes wrestling feel physical rather than choreographed.
Paige tagged in.
RamPaige DDT.
One-two-three.
Done.
And afterwards, giulia wrestler discourse gained another layer because Giulia’s post-match reaction was arguably more compelling than the actual defeat.
She looked furious.
Not melodramatically furious. Not tantrum furious. Something quieter. More dangerous.
Like Alberta threatening a referendum on whether to remain in Canada, the partnership suddenly felt fundamentally unstable at constitutional level. Too many competing interests. Too little trust. Everybody technically still occupying the same structure while clearly imagining alternative futures already.
Giulia sold that perfectly, standing on the outside, glaring into the ring.
They could have won that match.
Which is exactly why it will probably continue eating at her.
Why are Giulia and Paige being positioned as potential rivals on WWE SmackDown?
Giulia and Paige showed strong in-ring chemistry during the WWE SmackDown tag match involving Kiana James and Brie Bella. Their striking exchanges, contrasting wrestling styles, and visible tension created the feeling of a feud with long-term potential, especially as Giulia’s aggressive joshi-influenced offence clashed with Paige’s emotionally expressive WWE pacing.
How did Brie Bella perform in her WWE return match?
Brie Bella looked surprisingly sharp despite years away from regular WWE competition. Her movement, timing, and crowd interaction felt natural throughout the SmackDown match, particularly during the “Brie Mode” sequence, which still generated a strong audience reaction through nostalgia and long-term fan connection.
Why are fans increasingly praising Kiana James in WWE?
Kiana James is gaining attention because of her improving in-ring consistency and ability to stabilise matches structurally. During the SmackDown tag match, her transitions, positioning, and timing helped smooth over moments where the rhythm briefly drifted. Many fans now view her as an underrated “glue” wrestler who elevates the flow of multi-person matches.
What happened at the end of the Giulia and Kiana James tag match?
The match ended after Kiana James missed a standing moonsault against Brie Bella, allowing Paige to enter and hit the RamPaige DDT for the victory. The finish also teased growing tension between Giulia and Kiana James after miscommunication led to Giulia accidentally taking damage meant for Paige earlier in the match.
Why do WWE crowds still react strongly to “Brie Mode”?
“Brie Mode” remains popular because WWE audiences respond heavily to emotional familiarity and nostalgia. Even years after Brie Bella first popularised the catchphrase, fans still recognise it instantly, creating loud crowd reactions tied to memory, routine, and long-term attachment to past WWE eras.
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