WWE Rumor: Paige reportedly quit WWE
The news does not come from a good place. When Paige debuted at NXT, she looked to have an extremely promising future with WWE. She became the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion, and when she debuted on the main roster, she won the Divas Championship on her very first night, ending AJ Lee’s then-record setting championship reign.
Now, the bad news seems to be all but confirmed. FrontRowBrian, a reputed MMA journalist, stated that Paige is done with WWE, and has hired legal representation
BREAKING. @RealPaigeWWE quit WWE this week and has hired legal representation.
— FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian) September 8, 2016
One of the trickiest things about this whole scenario is that Paige’s contract expires in 2019. WWE has a reputation of not allowing their performers to compete until the contract period is over. It is saddening to see, because of the role of Paige in WWE’s women’s wrestling boom today.
With all the talk of the revolution and boom in women’s wrestling in WWE, many often take for granted the role of Paige in the earlier days, where the seeds began to be planted for the revolution. She debuted on the main roster in 2014 and won the Divas Championship twice that year.
In 2015, though she didn’t win it back, she undoubtedly played an extremely prominent part, being constantly featured in the most important storylines among the women throughout the year.
It was the storyline with Paige wanting a revolution against The Bella team and the old ways of the Divas that was the premise of Sasha Banks, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch being called up to the main roster.
2016 has been anything but a mellow year for Paige. She found herself in a creative limbo throughout, barely being featured in the prominent women’s feuds. Also, she gained much publicity from the fact that she had begun a relationship with Alberto Del Rio, which has clearly done a lot more harm than good.
Firstly, it was reported that Del Rio’s “adultery” was the premise of the divorce that he is now undergoing. Secondly, WWE clearly has not approved of this relationship, splitting them to separate brands during the brand split. There were even rumors of WWE going out of their way to split the couple up.
Also, the couple was then suspended within 24 hours of each other. However, it was reported that they were suspended for different substances, but the timing strikes many as odd. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that the chances of Paige leaving were extremely high.