Paige Taught To Swallow Her Pride To Make It In WWE
Paige has worked with both WWE and AEW.
Paige began her WWE journey in 2011 after signing a developmental contract. She rose to fame in NXT, becoming the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion in 2013. She made history on the April 7, 2014, episode of Raw when she debuted on the main roster and defeated AJ Lee to win the Divas Championship on her first night, making her the youngest woman ever to hold that title.
Her WWE run, though successful, was cut short due to severe neck injuries. After several surgeries and a long recovery, The Anti-Diva was forced to retire from in-ring action in 2018. She later worked as an on-screen general manager and panelist, but wasn’t re-signed when her contract expired in July 2022. She later revealed that WWE chose not to renew her deal as the company had “no creative plans” for her at that point.
Paige then made her AEW debut under her real name, Saraya, in September 2022, at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam. She became a central figure in the AEW women’s division, forming The Outcasts stable with Toni Storm and Ruby Soho and eventually winning the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In London in August 2023. However, she lost the title two months later and eventually left AEW in March 2025, citing personal reasons and creative frustrations with her booking.
Summer Rae and Paige Were “Very Close” in WWE
Speaking in an interview with talkSPORT, ex-WWE star Summer Rae, who was in WWE around the same time as Paige, shared her experience working with the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion in WWE. She stated that both of them taught each other so many things. Rae also disclosed that she had advised Paige to “swallow her pride” if she wanted to succeed in WWE.
“I was very close with Paige, Saraya, she’s from Norwich – she taught me how to say Norwich like porridge, not Nor-witch. She comes from a long history of British wrestlers with her family. They have the movie Fighting With My Family.
“We were very, very close. She taught me a lot at the beginning, and I taught her a lot too, about how to not punch everyone in the face in the girls’ locker room (laughs), and swallow her pride a bit to get far in WWE. So it was a give and a take.”
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