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What's the story?
On Monday Night RAW, the WWE made the announcement that Paige would not be competing in the first-ever women's Royal Rumble match due to a neck injury.
They have since posted the following video showing the leader of Absolution addressing the injury and her absence from the Royal Rumble match
In case you didn't know...
Paige has been the most talked about thing in the world of wrestling over the last week or so following reports from both the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and PWInsider suggesting that Paige's injuries would mean she would no longer get cleared to wrestle again for WWE, meaning her in-ring career for the company was effectively over.
Whilst the WWE did announce that Paige would miss the Royal Rumble match due to injury they were fairly scarce on all of the other details, meaning that for now Paige's overall status with the company, and as an actual wrestler remains unclear.
The heart of the matter
In the video, Paige says she has to sit out of the Royal Rumble per doctor's orders and really (really, really, really) wishes she could participate in the match. Weirdly Paige doesn't mention any specifics about the injury, or even really the injury at all, just saying she's been given orders not to compete.
However, she goes on to say that she will be there at the Royal Rumble match to support her Absolution teammates, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose.This could indicate that Paige is going to take on more of a management role for the two main roster rookies, which wouldn't be a horrendous thing given how good a talker she is on the mic, and how much she would legitimately be able to coach Deville and Rose given her years of experience.
What's next?
This is a weird situation for Paige and the WWE because in similar circumstances in the past, such as Edge's neck injury, or Daniel Bryan's head injury, both Superstars had to immediately announce their retirement from in-ring competition and got a spot on the show to do so. Paige has not, meaning that for whatever reason there's still a possibility she could wrestle again, despite reports.
Author's take
It's good to see that Paige will still get to be a part of the Royal Rumble match, even if she isn't actively participating in it. She has given a hell of a lot for the sport of professional wrestling and deserves as much.
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