A sneak peak of the upcoming film Fighting With My Family was released on Saturday during NXT TakeOver: New Orleans. The film centers around the life of WWE Superstar Paige, and the scene saw her character run into a very familiar face.
Canโt wait for this! @RealPaigeWWE @TheRock @Florence_Pugh pic.twitter.com/gEwQtxi9tw
โ ู (@HoundsOfPTO) April 7, 2018
In the scene Florence Pugh (playing a young, pre-WWE Paige) and Jack Lowden (playing Paige’s wrestling brother Zak Knight) are seen backstage at a WWE event before their first tryout with the company. They bump into Johnson, playing himself, and ask what they can do to help electrify the crowd.
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Johnson then goes into all-out Rock mode, cutting a promo on both young wrestlers while getting in all of his catchphrases. While at first it looks like Johnson is just being a jerk, he comes around at the end to reveal the whole thing was an act.
The movie is based around a 2012 documentary The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family, which Johnson picked up to make into a feature-length film with him serving as executive producer (and now apparently a a star). Pugh will play Paige, still going by her real name Saraya Bevis, Lena Headey will play Julia “Sweet Saray” Bevis and comedian Nick Frost will play Patrick “Rowdy Ricky Knight” Bevis.
Comedic actor Vince Vaugh will play WWE Hall of Fame Jake “The Snake” Roberts, while real-life wrestler Thea Trinidad will play AJ Lee as the film shows Paige’s first night on the WWE roster when she won the Divas Championship on an episode of Monday Night Raw.
Tessa Blanchard, independent wrestler and daughter of Four Horseman Tully Blanchard, will be the stunt double for Pugh during the in-ring scenes of the film.
Paige signed with WWE’s developmental system in April 2011 after her second tryout with the company. She went on to become the first-ever NXT Women’s Champion, won the Divas title the night after WrestleMania XXX and participated in matches at WrestleMania 31 and 32. After an extended hiatus and recovery from injury, Paige returned to WWE in November as the heelish leader of a new faction, Absolution. Unfortunately the return was short-lived, as she suffered a neck injury at a live event in late December that forced her to retire from in-ring competition.
Despite her retirement, Paige has remained on the roster on a weekly basis as the manager for Absolution members Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose.
This story is developing…