The on-screen authority figure on WWE television is a tough gig—there are more embarrassing failures than successful installments. But it sounds like Paige is destined to be the latter.
PWInsider (via Ringside News) says that WWE is very happy with Paige’s performance as SmackDown’s General Manager. The report also suggests that Paige will continue to see her opportunities blossom as WWE will want to keep her relevant to promote Fighting With My Family, a movie about Paige and her family’s life in the wrestling business.
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Shane McMahon introduced Paige as the new GM two days after WrestleMania 34. The previous night on RAW, Paige officially announced her retirement from in-ring competition due to a career-ending neck injury. The 25-year old’s address was heartbreaking, to say the least.
“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. I love you all so much. And yes, this will always be my house!”
Rumors or her leaving the company died within 24-hours as Paige became a SmackDown boss the next night. The job had been vacated due to Daniel Bryan‘s miraculous return to wrestling. While it was great just to lay eyes on Bryan as GM, it was a job he hated.
“‘What am I doing?’ This is the part of me where I’m like, ‘What a sissy I am!’ Lots of people go to their jobs that they don’t like and make way less money than me being the GM of SmackDown, but I could not get out of this mental state where I hate being here,” Bryan said on Talk is Jericho.
The job was particularly torturous for Byran who always knew he was healthy enough to compete. Bryan leads a scientific crusade to prove he was able to go, and eventually, WWE relented. He competed in WrestleMania 34 and vacated his old job.
“I really disliked going to work every week, and there would be times where I would fly in and get the script to the show, I would try to get as many people as I could to get in the shoot so I can leave that night and just get out of there. That was when I really started to say that I wouldn’t accept this anymore, I’m going to come back,” he said.
