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What's the story?
During a recent interview with WWE veterans Edge and Christian, Smackdown Live General Manager Paige opened up about her unfortunate retirement from in-ring competition due to a neck injury which she suffered way back in December of 2017.
In case you didn’t know…
After successfully undergoing a neck surgery in October 2017, Paige was finally made her WWE return for the very first time in over a year on 20th November 2017, when she returned on Raw as a heel and immediately put the entire Raw Women’s Division on notice by attacking Sasha Banks, Bayley, Mickie James, and then-Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss.
Upon her return to Raw, Paige also brought along former NXT superstars Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, as part of a faction known as Absolution as the trio laid out all four of the aforementioned superstars.
However, later that very same year, Paige once again suffered a devastating neck injury after taking a kick from Sasha Banks in a six-woman tag team match, thus forcing the referee to stop the match and on Raw after WrestleMania 34, Paige officially announced her retirement from in-ring competition.
The heart of the matter
While recently speaking with Edge and Christian on their E&C Pod of Awesomeness, Paige stated that prior to her retirement speech on the Raw after WrestleMania 34, the former WWE Divas Champion seemingly had the opportunity to interact with WWE Hall of Famer Edge backstage on Raw and as we all know, much like Paige, ‘The Rated R Superstar’ Edge also was forced to retire from in-ring competition due to a similar neck injury.
As noted, Paige claimed that moments before her retirement speech in New Orleans she was able to seek some advice from former WWE World Champion Edge, whose encouraging words were pretty comforting for the 25-year-old British superstar. (H/T: Wrestling Inc)
"I didn't tell many people that I was going to retire, but when I saw you [Edge] I had to do the speech so it was perfect and asked if I could speak with you whenever you had a moment before I had to go out there. When people saw me afterwards--it was really hard afterwards because I was on the stage and I was thinking, 'Oh my God. This is it—closure. Then I came back into the curtain and people were crying, and I was like, you guys are making this so much worse. I said to myself that I got this, and that I am good, but then I went to the back and Stephanie [McMahon] grabbed me and hugged me for the longest time, which was lovely, and then Vince [McMahon] and Hunter [Triple H]. I felt like I died or something, like, 'Oh, she was such a good person.' I was like, 'Guys, I didn't die! I'm still here!’”
What’s next?
Paige is currently doing a tremendous job as the newest General Manager of Smackdown Live and seeing her on WWE TV, despite not being able to compete physically, sure is a good feeling.
Author’s Take
It was certainly very hard to witness Paige retire from in-ring competition at such a young age, however, the former NXT Women’s Champion has been doing tremendously well since being named as the new SD Live GM.
