Nikki Bella clears Nia Jax of responsibility for her ankle injury

An unfortunate ankle injury kept Nikki Bella out of the WrestleMania 42 lineup, where she would have been crowned tag team champion alongside her sister Brie. The incident took place on the April 27 episode of SmackDown, where The Bellas had a confrontation with Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, and Lash Legend.

At that time, many fans pointed directly at Jax, accusing her of being responsible for Nikki's injury, largely due to her reputation as a dangerous woman. However, the fracture occurred before "The Irresistible Force" entered the ring. This was explained by the WWE Hall of Famer in the most recent edition of Nikki & Brie Show.

"What I want to clarify is that, initially, Nia received a lot of criticism on the Internet, and she actually helped me. When the end of the match arrived and the girls had to finish us off, at that moment I knew I couldn't even put weight on my foot. I was in so much pain that I knew it was something serious. I knew what was going to happen. When (Nia) came to attack me, I said: 'Please, no. My foot hurts a lot'. She replied: 'Wait, what?'. I said: 'I can't be thrown out, I need to walk out on my own'. She helped me get out, but people made it seem like she had injured me. No, Nia actually helped me a lot at that moment. I would have crashed to the ground if I had been thrown out. I knew I couldn't put weight on my feet," Nikki said.

Nikki's injury required surgery, with no approximate date for her return to action. However, this did not alter the plans for her sister, who competed in the grand event alongside Paige, who made her return to the company in the best way possible: by winning the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship.