SmackDown Live General Manager Paige was recently interviewed by former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia on her podcast, Chasing Glory. Here are the highlights:
Getting kicked in the back by Sasha Banks: “I got the kick [to the back of the neck], it wasn’t Sasha Banks fault. My neck just wasn’t as strong as it was before so I ended up getting temporary paralysis on my entire body,” Paige said.
“So, I am laying there in the middle of the ring, and I could feel it. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to wrestle anymore. I had never had that done to me. I couldn’t feel anything, I just laid there. I wasn’t in any pain but I just started crying.”
Being tended to by WWE’s medical staff: “Sasha Banks was there the whole time. The doctor was really cool about the situation. He said that it could be just a stinger, it could be this or that but we have to make sure just in case so we have to send you home and have you do an MRI,” said Paige.
“So, I had did that and then I got to television the next week, [WWE ringside physician] Dr. Amann was there and said that he wanted to be honest with me, but it doesn’t look good. He doesn’t want me to get my hopes up, but with my MRI it doesn’t look good. The x-rays do not look good and I told him that I knew because I could feel it. I know. I know my body.”
Her reaction to her career being over: “I had kept my stuff together then and thanked him, and then as soon as I walked outside I called my mom and dad and immediately broke down and was sobbing,” said Paige.
“I was just sobbing. Everything I knew my entire life, like literally, for 26 years all I had known was pro wrestling, and for it to be ripped away from me, which is nobody’s fault, but it is part of our business… I remember my dad crying and he said that everything is going to be okay. He said that you are going to be doing bigger things now, and that this isn’t the end of your story. I thanked him for saying that, but I was just devastated.”
Vince McMahon having something planned for her: “[At WrestleMania] Vince McMahon said that I am doing something big tomorrow so please rest my voice. I told Vince that I debuted in New Orleans [Raw after WrestleMania 30], so I would love to retire at WrestleMania in New Orleans, just full circle. They listened which I was really happy about. Not a lot of women get to do their retirement speech in the ring, and now WWE is throwing women completely into the spotlight which I love,” said Paige.
“So, for them to give me that opportunity in the ring, how great was that? I told them that this was it, I was done. And I remember walking to the back and Edge telling me that I was going to feel really sad beforehand, but there is going to be so much off of your shoulders afterwards. And I literally walked back through the curtain and I felt this rush of relief like, okay, I did it. Now what? I felt really good about it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yc6wZqE5yo&feature=youtu.be
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
