Paige Having a Tough Time Acknowledging Her In-Ring Retirement
• WWE VIDEO HISTORY (JANUARY 15, 2004) – Rhyno Attacks John Cena
On this day in 2004, WWE aired an in ring segment of John Cena cutting a promo on SmackDown! GM Paul Heyman, which ended in Rhyno attacking "The Doctor of Thuganomics".
During the promo Cena said: "I bounce you quicker than an ECW check", referring to Paul Heyman's history of not paying ECW wrestlers while being the promoter of Extreme Championship Wrestling.
• Paige Having a Tough Time Acknowledging Her In-Ring Retirement
As we noted before, PWInsider reported that former WWE Divas Champion & current Raw Superstar Paige's in-ring career is over.
WWE officials told Paige backstage on Raw last week that her time as a wrestler is over and her situation is similar to that of WWE Hall of Famer Edge (who was also forced to retire from in-ring competition).
Paige's physical condition became worse after a Live Event match where she got kicked in the back by Sasha Banks and she suffered a Stinger.
Paige underwent a neck surgery in 2016 and was out of action for about 17 months. She made her return to WWE programming in November 2017.
Hollywood Life is reporting that a WWE source told them that Paige is having a tough time admitting her in-ring career is over:
"Paige has been burying her head in the sand ever since her latest injury, and she's been struggling to acknowledge that her wrestling career is probably over for good. It's really sad, she's still only 25, and she should be at the peak of her career—instead, it's looking ever more likely that Paige is going to be forced to announce her retirement.
This is all still fresh on her mind and she is very sad and has definitely felt that this is more bad luck for her in a year that has had many ups and downs.
She doesn't really believe it and is actually hoping for a miracle to someday wrestle again. She knows it is far fetched but her emotions are all over the place right now and she hasn't accepted retirement just yet."
Speaking of Paige, WWE made it official on this week's Raw that she won't be competing in the first ever Women's Royal Rumble match due to a neck injury.