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SmackDown had managed to regain a lot of long-lost luster under the management of Paige, and her removal as the General Manager will most certainly have an effect on its ratings. Under Paige's supervision, SmackDown became superior to Raw, and most people preferred it over Raw.
Even though she was hurried into taking the responsibility as GM, Paige managed the blue brand extremely well, and pulled off several eventful matches. Her impromptu decisions helped make SmackDown even more intriguing to watch, and removing her as GM will leave a void unfilled.
We all know about how scripted the world of WWE is, but with Vince and Stephanie McMahon shifting their attention to Raw and constantly interfering in Kurt Angle's management, Paige was left with more authority to make her own decisions on SmackDown. Here are some of the most memorable moments Paige pulled off as GM of SmackDown.
#3 Jeff Hardy comes to AJ Styles' rescue
Just when all the fans thought the feud between AJ Styles and Shinsuke was over, WWE announced that AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura would have one more go at it on SmackDown Live. It all became a bit fishier when Rusev and Aiden English entered the arena following the entrances, to cut a promo about his match with Styles.
With all the action going on in the match, things became unfortunate when Nakamura came in with a Kinshasa attempt, but hit English instead of AJ Styles. Styles slammed Nakamura into the ring post, tossed him into the ring, and went to set up the Phenomenal Forearm.
However, Rusev pulled him off the ring for a DQ finish just over 15 minutes in. Rusev then brought AJ into the ring and held him for Shinsuke to hit the Kinshasa, but Jeff Hardy's theme music came on and he ran down to the ring.
Jeff took out both Rusev and Nakamura, clearing the ring of the duo. It was then Paige came out on the ramp, making a tag team match begin right away.
#2 Firing James Ellsworth
On 17 June 2018, James Ellsworth was brought back to SmackDown, and was seen siding with Carmella during her run as SmackDown Live Women's Champion. Their pairing in the past had proved to work very well before.
Fans were getting into James and Carmella rekindling their chemistry, and there were no signs of him being released by the WWE.
When Paige brought the WWE Champion AJ Styles out to the ring for the announcement of who his contender would be for the Championship match set for August 19, James Ellsworth made his way to the ring and stated that he wanted to take the WWE Championship title away from AJ Styles
Paige then shut Ellsworth down, and after a few weeks of squabble between them, she decided it was time to send Ellsworth packing, so she "fired" James Ellsworth, and had security escort him out of the building.
#1 Daniel Bryan & Brie Bella vs The Miz & Maryse
Paige took to Twitter to publicise this much-anticipated match, as one of the stars of Total Bellas was going to fight one of the stars of Miz and Mrs in the main event! With the heavy social media presence and fan base for the couples, this match was all set to be the best.
The married couples were all set for a face off for the first time in a tag team match on the heels of Miz beating Bryan at SummerSlam in August.
Miz asked Maryse for some assistance and Maryse handed him brass knuckles from the crowd, which he used to knock out Bryan to become victorious.
While Miz was gloating about his win over Bryan, Brie returned on SmackDown Live and attacked The Miz by punching him square in the face. To even out the odds, Bryan announced that Paige granted he and his wife a tag team match against Miz and Maryse at Hell in a Cell.
The Miz and Maryse came out as victors.
