It’s been an emotional year for Paige, as she was forced to retire from in-ring competition only a few months after she made her return to WWE.
Paige recently opened up about her retirement during an appearance on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast, and she noted that she was devastated when she got the news, but Triple H and Vince McMahon were there to support her (via WrestleZone).
“I just called my mom and dad and I just broke down. I couldn’t stop sobbing. I was sobbing. Everything I knew my entire life, like literally for 26 years all I’ve known is wrestling and for it to be ripped out of my hands just like that – and it’s no one’s fault, it just comes with the business sometimes, like spinal stenosis with Edge and Stone Cold, it happens. For it to be cut short, it’s devastating. It’s horrible. My dad was just crying and he was like, ‘Everything is gonna be OK sweetheart. You’re gonna do bigger things now. Don’t worry this isn’t the end of your story,’ and I was like, ‘Thank you dad.’ That same day, I was just devastated, Hunter called me to make sure I was OK. I went to work and Vince [McMahon] gave me a big hug and said, ‘We’ll look after you. We just want you to look after yourself first.’”
After Paige retired, she ended up filling the SmackDown Live General Manager position the next night. According to the former Divas Champion, she had no idea she was going to be part of the show until she was handed a script.
“Tuesday came along and I was sitting in the seats in the arena, just chilling out talking to my mom and dad and the writers and Road Dogg all kind of surround me. They’re like, ‘Hey, here’s your script for tonight. You’re in seg one.’ I was like, ‘What?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, you’re gonna be Smackdown GM now?’ I was like, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to remember these scripts now. This is gonna be crazy!’”
