Shane McMahon opened SmackDown by announcing Daniel Bryan had been officially relieved of his General Manager duties. However the job didn’t stay open long—he hired Paige for the gig.
Paige came out to a monstrous ovation in what will be one of the more memorable moments of 2018. Less than 24 hours after breaking our hearts with a retirement speech, Paige has officially reincarnated.
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When one door closes, another one opens…
With @WWEDanielBryan resigning from his GM position to become a full-time @WWE Superstar once again, #SDLive has a new General Manager in @RealPaigeWWE! pic.twitter.com/J11GEJ45Tz
— WWE (@WWE) April 11, 2018
And for her first act as General Manager, Paige granted a wish that was impossible just a few weeks ago: Daniel Bryan will take on WWE Champion AJ Styles later this evening.
It appeared Paige kissed as all goodbye on RAW, and a story surface implying she may be done with the company for a while. Clearly, that is not the case.
However, she did give a tear-jerker of a speech, here are the quotes:
“I want to thank WWE for letting me do this, and every single one of you for the past four years,” Paige said. “This, New Orleans, for years ago is where I debuted and won the Divas Championship and four years later New Orleans is where I want to retire. So I want to say thank you to every single one of you” said Paige in her RAW address.
She finished her speech by saying the ring will always be “her house” then placed her shirt in the middle of the ring and walked out.
“I love you all so much,” Paige said. And yes, this will always be my house!”
Between a wellness policy suspension, personal issues and recovering from major neck surgery, Paige was gone from the WWE from August 2016 through November 2017. Upon her return, “The Anti-Diva” turned heel and led the Absolution faction to wreak havoc on the Raw women’s roster for weeks. However, during a house show match in Long Island on December 27, Paige took a kick to the back of the head from Banks and had to be helped out of the ring.
Paige’s injury, which is similar to the career-ending injuries of Edge and Stone Cold Steve Austin, was quickly labeled to be career ending. The report claimed Paige was informed that her wrestling career was over this past Monday during Monday Night Raw, but had stayed quiet about it over the next several days.
Born to a pair of British pro wrestlers, Paige has been involved in the professional wrestling business almost all her life. She was signed to WWE’s developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling back in 2011, became the first NXT Women’s Champion in 2012 and won her first of two Divas Championships on her first night on Raw back in 2014.
