Paige Likely to Miss Women's Royal Rumble

When Stephanie McMahon announced the first ever Women's Rumble WWE Superstar, Paige, was reduced to gracious tears. However, when the Rumble arrives on January 28th, Paige may be crying for a much different reason.

Thanks to a head injury suffered at the end of December, Paige has been kept out of in-ring action for several weeks and PWInsider reports that she likely will not be medically cleared in time for the Rumble.

This comes as heartbreaking news, as Paige returned in the fall of 2017 after losing a year to injury. As the matriarch of Absolution Paige came back to a thunderous ovation and appeared to be destined for big things come WrestleMania season. By being forced to sit out of the Royal Rumble, Paige will not only be missing a huge moment for herself, but will be left out of a historic day for women's wrestling.

It's worth noting that even though things look bleak, there PWInsider's report does appear to leave a glimmer of hope. However given Paige injury history, we can expect WWE to employ conservative partial regarding her return.

If Paige does indeed miss the Rumble, her absence will further narrow the short list of potential winners. Oddsmakers had Paige not far behind Asuka and Ronda Rousey as the likeliest female Rumble winner. But now that she's gone, the likelihood of Asuka or Rousey getting the big moment just exponentially increased.

Paige's injury looked terrifying when it first happened as WWE medical staff insisted on using a stretcher to escort from the ring to backstage. She would leave under own power but the initial images had wrestling fans fearing the worst. WWE would go on to label the injury as a "stinger," but we have not heard any other details.

For now, expect Paige stay busy on RAW delivering promos for Absolution while Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose do the heavy lifting. But barring some long shot developments, don't count on seeing the Anti Diva in the Rumble