Paige no longer exists in the post of the Smackdown general manager. This week, Shane McMahon announced that there will not be any post of middle-man authority figure, for now. The McMahon family will run things on WWE Raw and Smackdown. Despite Paige doing a great job, she had to quit owing to this reason.
Reason why WWE removed Paige from GM post
The pro-wrestling universe was unhappy about WWE’s decision as Paige was doing a fantastic job in her position. She established herself as one of the most popular authority figures in the WWE within a limited timespan. Starting from April 2019, her tenure as Smackdown general manager lasted long for a bit more than 8 months.
One of the specialties of Paige was to make some awesome matches on Smackdown on a regular basis. This has been the specialty of the Tuesday Nights in 2018. We have witnessed multiple such dream matches on the blue brand like Styles vs. Bryan, Hardy vs. Nakamura, Charlotte vs. Asuka and more PPV matches.
Well, Paige was about to make another huge first-time ever match over the championship. But the removal from general manager post did not allow her to do so. On her Twitter account, the GM revealed that she wanted to make one last Championship Match at Royal Rumble. Becky Lynch would have challenged Asuka for the women’s title.
But that match is not official, for now. Asuka won the Smackdown women’s championship at WWE TLC in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. She did not have to pin or submit Becky Lynch to win the match. Climbing the ladder and grabbing the title handed him the championship automatically handing over a title rematch to the former champion.
Soooo I tried to make one last match before my time as #SDLive GM came to end…but unfortunately @BeckyLynchWWE vs. @WWEAsuka for the Smackdown Women’s Championship is NOT official for #RoyalRumble. #Oops
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) December 21, 2018
So the initial belief was that Becky Lynch vs. Asuka will be a sure-shot championship match at Royal Rumble. But now that Paige announced this match will not happen there could be a different scenario. Asuka, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and the rest of the SmackDown Live women’s roster might get a big opportunity in the upcoming weeks.
Royal Rumble will take place on Sunday, January 27th, 2019 at the Chase Field Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. So far, WWE has confirmed one match for the show from the flagship show. Brock Lesnar will defend the WWE Universal Championship against Braun Strowman. Plus, the traditional 30-man and woman Royal Rumble matches will be there to determine a number one contender for their respective championship matches.
