WWE News: Paige opens up about injury that ended her career
What's the story?
Paige was forced to retire from in-ring competition with WWE last month on the Raw After WrestleMania after suffering a career-ending injury. The star recently opened up about how she felt when she received the devastating news.
In case you didn't know...
Paige suffered a neck injury back in December at a house show in a six-woman tag match when she took a kick from Sasha Banks. The referee stopped the match and Paige was then stretchered to the back. It was later announced that the former Diva Champion would be forced to miss the Royal Rumble because of the injury, which meant that Paige couldn't make history with the rest of the Women's Division.
The British star still continued to appear at ringside with her Absolution teammates but was forced to announce her retirement from competition on the Raw After WrestleMania last month before she was appointed SmackDown General Manager.
The heart of the matter
Paige has been wrestling since she was 13 years old and was absolutely devastated to be told that she couldn't wrestle again. The former Champion spoke about her career ending injury as part of The Edge and Christian's Podcast. (Transcript Via FuzzyWuzzyMoo)
"When it actually happened and the accident happened in the ring, I lost all feeling in my legs and my arms. It was literally the most terrifying experience in my life and I would never wish that upon anyone. It was so scary. I literally was like 'Oh my gosh, I'm done, I'm going to be in a wheelchair now, this is it, I've pushed myself too much.' Because I really did, because everytime I was in the match I was like 'its okay, I'll do the comeback, I'll take the bump, I'll do this, I'll do that' because I was just so eager to get back in the ring you know. I feel like I pushed myself too hard to the point of where my body was like 'stop.' You know I've been doing this since I was thirteen as well and my body was like 'you need time to grow woman."
Paige found it hard to accept that she couldn't wrestle again and despite the scare of being temporarily paralyzed, she still continued to push the doctors to clear her to return.
"I refused to believe I was hurt, I remember doing this. Coming back to Orlando to go get my MRIs and stuff and I felt good, I could get back in the ring again even though I just experiencedtemporary paralysis. I was like 'No I'm good, I can do this, please don't make me be out.' And I was like begging them, 'Please I don't want to be out anymore, please don't let me be out.' I was just crying to the doctors and stuff. So then Dr. Maroon was like 'I'm sorry you cannot get back in the ring again.' It was horrible, it really breaks your heart....it really does."
What's next?
Paige has been doing a great job as the SmackDown General Manager over the past few weeks and confirmed earlier today that she was heading to Newark to be part of tonight's Backlash event.
Author's take
Wrestling is the only thing that Paige has known ever since she was 13 years old. She travelled the world as a teenager and signed for WWE when she was just 19 years old back in 2011, working her way up through the ranks ever since. It was a hard thing for her to accept, but WWE offered her a way to remain part of the business which was a great touch since Daniel Bryan has already managed to defy doctors and make his in-ring return after two years out.