Where the speculation about what Paige will do on SmackDown tonight comes from

Paige will be back on SmackDown tonight (Fri., Mar. 13), with WWE promoting her appearance by saying she’ll confront the blue brand’s champion Bayley.

My main man Kyle Decker already discussed how Paige’s presence is necessitated by the poor job WWE’s done on Friday nights with their women’s division. Maybe it’s the lack of babyface challengers for Bayley, or maybe it’s that Edge’s recent return has everyone questioning whether any retirement will stick. But there are a couple of theories about what Paige will do tonight floating around the discussion. And they both seem to stem from the same January interview with Inside The Ropes.

Kenny McIntosh caught up with Paige before Royal Rumble, while she was in the United Kingdom promoting WWE’s move from Sky to BT Sport. In part one of the interview, Paige discusses the possibility of managing again - and specifically mentions Nia Jax.

That idea first came up on Twitter:

So when McIntosh asked her who she’d pick to manage if she could pick anyone on the roster, this answer wasn’t a shocker:

“I would have to say Nia Jax. I’m gonna be biased obviously because she’s one of my best friends, but also I really want to get that Paul Heyman/Brock Lesnar vibe - I can be the mouthpiece and she can be the muscle and she can be a success like that.

When she comes back it’s gonna be a huge thing, and she gets that heat. Like people truly just hate her. It’s wonderful, cause no one wants to be hated any more. Everyone wants to be a heel, but everyone wants to be a badass heel that everyone cheers. So it’s really hard to find that, and I want to be part of that.”

What would be a shocker is if she pulled a Daniel Bryan or Edge and revealed she’d been cleared. That’s addressed in part two:

“I think it is always a possibility one day, I mean you can never say never. But it’s not gonna be any time soon. That’s mostly all I can say about it. It’s really hard because I just had a neck surgery in August. My neck is just getting healthier quicker the second time around which is crazy - I feel absolutely fantastic. So, we’ll see where it goes.”

So Paige says she’s a long way from being cleared, and the most recent rumors on Nia say she’s going to Raw. What will 27 year old, two-time Divas champ get into tonight at the Performance Center?

Join us in our live blog and find out!