Fans waiting for the film adaptation of WWE Superstar Paige‘s upbringing will have to wait a bit longer, as Deadline reported on Friday that the movie has been bumped back from Sept. 14 to March 1, 2019.
A reason for the move was not reported. The movie will now go up against the animated film How to Train Your Dragon: Hidden World, 20th Century Fox’s The Kid Who Would Be King and Lionsgate’s Chaos Walking on its opening weekend at the box office.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The film was inspired by the 2012 British documentary, The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family, which chronicled Paige’s life growing up with parents and siblings who were all wrestlers as she tries out for WWE’s developmental program.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a WWE legend in his own right, will serve as the film’s executive producer and appear in the film as himself. A scene involving The Rock meeting Paige and her brother Zak Bevis was released as a trailer in early April.
Stephen Merchant will serve as the film’s writer and director, Florence Pugh will play Paige (real name Saraya Bevis), Nick Frost will play her father Patrick Bevis, Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey will star as Paige’s mother Julia Bevis, WWE Superstar Zelina Vega will play former WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee and comedian Vince Vaughn will portray WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
Paige successfully joined the WWE after her second tryout attempt and moved to the United States in 2011 to wrestle for the company’s developmental program Florida Championship Wrestling. The WWE converted its developmental system into NXT in 2012, where she quickly became one of the roster’s most popular stars as she became the first-ever NXT Women’s Champion.
She made her main roster debut on the April 7, 2014 episode of Monday Night Raw and, in a scene that will be depicted in the movie, she defeated Lee to become the Divas Champion in her first match. She went on to win the title a second time and have two matches at WrestleMania before taking an extended hiatus (involving a wellness policy suspension and neck surgery) in 2016.
Paige returned to the WWE in November as the leader of the heel faction Absolution, but just over a month later she suffered a neck injury that would force her to retire from in-ring competition.
She announced her retirement on April 9 on Monday Night Raw and took over as SmackDown Live general manager the following night.
