Paige was one of the most popular female superstars in the history of professional wrestling. She has an immense fan following in the circuit as well as on social media who were depressed to learn about her retirement all of a sudden. She was forced to hang up her pro wrestling boots in 2017 at an age of just 25. After the unthinkable happened, WWE thought of utilizing her in a different way.
Paige then became the General Manager of Friday Night Smackdown to start the debate on whether she was the greatest one in GM history. She revisited those initial days in the WWE in a recent conversation while also opening up about her private photos being leaked in early 2017. Not to mention, her prior addiction to drugs and drinking was also noted.
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The former WWE Divas Champion recently appeared for an interview with Renee Paquette on her The Sessions podcast. The two former colleagues discussed a variety of topics, including Paige’s Twitch success and her time in NXT. Moving on, she also opened up about her drug problems and her condition after her private photos were released on the internet.
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Paige had to go through a tough phase while beginning in WWE
Paige first became involved in the party scene while she was an FCW student. She also revealed in light of her private photos being leaked, she was literally mortified at that point.
“I was literally just sitting in this bush, because I was just like, if people recognize me, they’re gonna know. I felt so stupid to have trusted this person. It was a lesson learned. I’ll never do that again. I felt so embarrassed. I was already a f*cking cokehead at this time and loved to drink. It got me to rock bottom where I didn’t want to live anymore. It was awful,” Paige added.
“I was so f*cking sad. I remember being like, ‘If my dad is disappointed in me, I don’t think I can be here anymore. It got to that point. I called him. He said, ‘You just have to suck it up. It’s going to hurt for a while. People are going to make fun of you forever, but I just want you to know that I’m still proud of you.”
As noted above, Paige was forced to prematurely retire from in-ring competition after she was kicked in the back by Sasha Banks during a WWE MSG House Show in 2017. After officially announcing her retirement on TV, she became the General Manager of Smackdown and then even managed The Kabuki Warriors for a while.
Afterward, Paige served as co-host of the WWE Backstage show on FOX. Once it got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the youngest NXT Women’s Champion was put out of context. Then earlier this year, she shocked the wrestling world by announcing that she’ll be leaving WWE in July. WWE didn’t want to re-sign her to a new contract, causing her departure.
