Paige has spoken candidly about bottoming out during her time in WWE and why she felt like a liability for the company at times.
The 7th of July 2022 will mark the end of an era in WWE as Paige will no longer be part of the company after a run that spawned a full motion picture.
The English star has been unable to compete in recent years following a nasty neck injury suffered during a match in December 2017. She has acted as General Manager of SmackDown and also as a manager since but recently, Paige has found herself on the sidelines as her contract ran down.
Writing in the Player’s Tribune, Paige spoke honestly about her feelings now her time in WWE is coming to an end and how the company kept faith in her when she had almost given up on herself:
“You learn about people’s true nature, I’ve found, from how they treat you when you’re closer to the bottom. And a few years ago I got pretty close to the bottom.”
“It was like, almost overnight, so many things changed: Suddenly my neck was f*cked and I couldn’t wrestle. I popped a drug test. My sex tape leaked. I got depressed. I started drinking. And I became less of an asset to WWE, and more of a liability, for a long time. I’m sure of it.”
“But they never lost faith in me — they never once threw me off to the side. They got me the help I needed when I needed help, and they gave me the time and space I needed when I needed time and space.”
“They even gave me a full segment on Raw to announce my in-ring retirement. I’ll cherish that for the rest of my life. Not just getting to make the announcement like I did, but also the respect it showed on WWE’s part, that they viewed me as worthy of that kind of treatment — the kind normally reserved for an Edge, or a Daniel Bryan, or an HBK, or a Hunter.”