Paige has penned her goodbye to WWE.
We noted before how Paige revealed that her WWE contract was expiring and that she will no longer be signed to the company as of Thursday, July 7 as they decided not to re-sign her. She took to The Player’s Tribune today to publicly say goodbye to the company she signed with in 2011 at the age of 18.
Paige began the piece with the following:
“You can call me Saraya now.
Tomorrow is my last official day as Paige.
I got signed in April of 2011, at 18 years old. I was just a baby from Norwich, England. And as I’m sitting here now, I’m only a month away from turning 30. That’s crazy, right? I’ve been Paige for over 11 years. For my entire adult life, I’ve been with WWE.
And while I’ve changed a lot over that time, one thing feels the same to me today as it did back on the day I tried out: the thrill of those three letters. WWE — those three letters have given so much to me. In many ways, they’ve come to define me. And they’ve never lost their meaning. The idea of being a WWE Superstar … I’m still blown away by that, still humbled by it.
Which makes it hard to say goodbye.
I’ve known this moment would be coming for a while, but it almost didn’t seem real. Now that it is real, though, I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude.”
She went on to thank people like AJ Lee, WWE Hall of Famers The Bella Twins, the legendary WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, Interim CEO & Chairwoman Stephanie McMahon, EVP of Global Talent Strategy & Development Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Dr. Tom Prichard, Steve Keirn, and others. Paige also expressed gratitude to the women she shared a locker room with, and the current group of female Superstars.
Paige continued and talked about how the company was there for her.
“And then of course the other part of this that I’m grateful for … it’s more bittersweet.
The truth is, it was easy enough for WWE to get behind me in those early days. I was a young woman who could wrestle at a high level and cut good promos and move loads of merch — I was probably one of their top assets, you know what I mean? And you don’t learn much about people from how they treat you when you’re on top.
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 fucked 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.
That they viewed me as someone who’d built a legacy of her own.”
Paige wrapped her article by sharing a Stephanie story, and giving thanks once again. She also thanked the fans, and everyone else involved, and said she will see everyone down the road.
“I’ll leave on a quick story. Before I came back from my injury in 2017, I probably had the craziest case of anxiety I’ve ever had. I just kept thinking to myself, like, These people are all going to hate me now. With things having spiraled so out of control (and in such a public way) in my personal life, I had doubts about whether I still belonged, and about whether that connection I’d made with the fans had permanently been lost.
And I’ll never forget this: As I was getting ready to go out there for my “re-debut,” Stephanie pulled me aside. And she just held me for a minute. She gave me the biggest, longest hug. And she said, “Hey — everyone out there loves you. They’re going to be excited to see you. You want to know why? Because you’re a survivor. You SURVIVED. And that means something. So hold your head up, and enjoy this moment. It’s yours.”
Stephanie was right (as usual). I went out there … and it was the most amazing feeling. No one hated me!! They were actually glad I was back. I was still Paige. The connection was still there.
And in a lot of ways, that story is my time with WWE in a nutshell. It was far from perfect. There were some brutal setbacks. And to be honest, I was a bit of an ass for a couple of years. But they always believed in my will to survive, and in the person I could grow to become.
So I wanted to say thanks.
And I want to thank YOU ALL — truly, anyone who might be reading. From my bosses to my coworkers to my friends to my fans. For the past 11 years, you’ve let me live out my dreams. More living to come. I’ll see you down the road.”
The full article can be found here.
Paige has been out of action since being forced to retire in 2018 after suffering a neck injury at a December 2017 WWE live event.
After working the UK indies and for SHIMMER in the United States, Paige participated in two WWE tryouts in 2010 and 2011, and was signed to a WWE developmental contract for FCW in September 2011. She was in developmental when FCW re-branded to WWE NXT, and worked that brand until being called up to RAW on the night after WrestleMania 30. She quickly defeated AJ Lee that night to become the youngest WWE Divas Champion in history at the age of 21. Paige was also around for the early days of the Women’s Revolution. She had previously suffered a neck injury and underwent surgery before returning to the ring in the fall of 2017. Paige then suffered a neck injury at the December 27, 2017 non-televised live event on Long Island, NY, while taking a kick from Sasha Banks during a six-woman tag team bout. That was her last match for WWE. She would officially retire on the April 9, 2018 RAW, the night after WrestleMania 34, and ended up doing various cameo appearances, commentary work, managerial work, and even served as the SmackDown General Manager.
Paige has often expressed interest and hope for a ring return in multiple interviews and tweets. She has also recently stated that she is interested in wrestling again, but also confirmed that she has not been medically cleared to compete. There’s no word yet on if Paige is interested in working with someone like AEW or Impact Wrestling, or if those promotions are interested, but we should be hearing more in the coming months.
Paige is leaving WWE as a one-time NXT Women’s Champion and a two-time WWE Divas Champion.
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