The Anti-Diva and first ever NXT Women’s Champion has revealed that she nearly missed out on winning the title in June 2013.
Speaking on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette, Paige described only being medically cleared to wrestle that day, after having surgery to remove a cyst from her ovary.
“First of all, I just want to talk about the day that I won the NXT Women’s Championship for the first time. I was actually cleared that day to wrestle, I nearly missed it, because I had a cyst on my ovary that I had to have surgery to remove. Hunter literally cleared me that day, he was like ‘listen if you can do this, this, this… and the doctor says it’s OK then you can wrestle.’ I was like oh my God I nearly missed that opportunity. [Renee asks who would have won if Paige wasn’t clear] If I wasn’t cleared it would have been Emma. I was so thankful that the doctor was like yeah she’s good to go.”
Paige would defeat Emma in the finals of an eight-woman tournament to crown the first ever champion. Following her victory Paige would hold the title for 273 days, before being stripped of the belt after moving to the main roster and capturing the WWE Divas Championship.
Defeating AJ Lee for the Divas title made Paige the youngest woman to ever hold the belt, as well as being the only women to hold both the NXT and Divas titles at the same time.
Paige hasn’t competed inside a WWE ring since being injured during a house show on 27th December 2017. The former WWE Superstar retired from active competition shortly after, citing a serious neck injury. Paige later enjoyed a stint as SmackDown General Manger before becoming a contributor on WWE Backstage.
However, during her appearance on Oral Sessions, Paige said that she would “come back tomorrow” if she were to be medically cleared.
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