Paige Opens Up On Dark Period Of Her Career
Paige has revealed she was “pretty close to the bottom” during a turbulent period in her WWE career but says the company never lost faith in her.
Paige will officially part ways with WWE on July 7th after over a decade with the company. After a successful in-ring career that saw her capture gold both in NXT and on the main roster, the English star was forced to hang up her boots following a neck injury she suffered during a match in 2017.
Despite no longer being able to compete, she remained an on-screen presence for some time, first as the General Manager of SmackDown and later managing the Kabuki Warriors tag team consisting of Kairi Sane and Asuka.
However, more recently, Paige has found herself on the sidelines as the time left on her contract ran down.
In an article in the Player’s Tribune bidding WWE farewell, Paige opened up about her feelings at her time in the company coming to an end praised them for never losing faith, even during the lowest point of her career.
“You learn about people’s true nature, I’ve found, from how they treat you when you’re closer to the bottom. And a few years ago I got pretty close to the bottom.”
“It was like, almost overnight, so many things changed: Suddenly my neck was f*cked and I couldn’t wrestle. I popped a drug test. My sex tape leaked. I got depressed. I started drinking. And I became less of an asset to WWE, and more of a liability, for a long time. I’m sure of it.”
“But they never lost faith in me — they never once threw me off to the side. They got me the help I needed when I needed help, and they gave me the time and space I needed when I needed time and space.”
“They even gave me a full segment on Raw to announce my in-ring retirement. I’ll cherish that for the rest of my life. Not just getting to make the announcement like I did, but also the respect it showed on WWE’s part, that they viewed me as worthy of that kind of treatment — the kind normally reserved for an Edge, or a Daniel Bryan, or an HBK, or a Hunter.”