WWE News: Paige didn't know that she would become SmackDown GM till the last minute
What's the story?
WWE SmackDown Live General Manager Paige was a guest on Edge and Christian's E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness recently and among other things revealed when she found out that she would become SmackDown's General Manager.
In case you didn’t know…
After a long hiatus due to injury, Paige returned to Raw in November last year as the leader of the heel faction Absolution alongside Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville from NXT. However, just over a month later, the former Divas Champion suffered another injury at a house show that forced her to retire from in-ring action.
However, Paige would only announce her retirement three months later on the Raw after WrestleMania 34 in an emotional segment. The fans didn't know what was next for the former anti-diva, but the very next night on SmackDown, Paige was revealed as the new General Manager by Shane McMahon.
The heart of the matter
On the podcast, Paige explained WWE didn't tell even her about her new role, in order to avoid any spoilers. Apparently, Paige was just told to be on SmackDown the day after she announced her retirement but was not told why until the last minute.
This is what she had to say (H/t Wrestling Inc):
"It's all secrecy. They didn't want it to spoil it. They didn't even tell me. They told me that I was going to SmackDown Live the next night. I had asked why, but they didn't tell me.
At that point, I had been touring a lot. Did a lot for WrestleMania week, so I was exhausted physically and mentally where I just wanted to go home so I was curious as to what was going on.
I got to SmackDown the next day, Road Dogg, along with my writing team surround me and I was thinking, 'Oh my God, am I about to be beat up. Do I owe you money?' It was then they told me I was going to be the SmackDown general manager, but don't tell anyone. We don't even have the script yet."
She then went on to explain how she was taken aback by the loud ovation, glad to know that the fans still wanted her around.
"I go through this thing where when I do something big I tend to lose my voice. When I re-debuted I lost my voice. When I did commentary at WrestleMania I lost my voice, it's like, oh my God. What is wrong with me? Fix your voice!
They told me that they had to check my voice because today was a very big day. By then I had already drank a bunch of tea and cough drops. Once I got out there the crowd was great, and received a bigger reception than my retirement speech the night previous. I was like, 'Wow, this is super cool. You still want me around.'"
What's next?
Paige has continued to thrive in her role as SmackDown Live GM and there's no reason for her to step away from the role any time soon. A movie based on her life titled Fighting with My Family is in the works.
Author's take
Paige's premature retirement was indeed one of the saddest incidents in recent times in WWE. But it is great to see that she found a way to stay on in the business she was born into and loves.
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