Paige has recently returned to WWE programming, managing the new tag team of Kairi Sane and Asuka. Before that, she had been missing from SmackDown Live ever since being removed as SmackDown’s General Manager position.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Paige addressed being unceremoniously removed from her General Manager role, and her new manager responsibilities.
“I was sad because I loved that role,” she admitted. “I had such a good time with it, and it pushed my boundaries a little bit because I had multiple promos in a day and I wasn’t used to that. So it really helped me grow creatively and professionally. But I was excited about another role. I was like, ‘Okay, no worries,’ because I knew the WWE would take care of me. They always do.”
“I pitched to manage Ronda Rousey, kind of like the Paul Heyman-Brock Lesnar thing,” she said. “And then also be with Asuka, because Asuka had trouble speaking on the mic sometimes. As much as she’s an amazing athlete, an incredible wrestler, and I was like, ‘I’ll help her, give me the microphone, I’ll talk for her.’ And then Paul Heyman called me one day and said, ‘We have a great role for you. You can be the next me with these two women.’ I was like, ‘Wow, what a crazy tag team, they’re incredible…Absolutely, I’ll take it!’ “
Paige has openly expressed her interest in managing talent in the past, and having Paul Heyman’s support would undoubtedly bolster her spirits in managing talent—even if it isn’t Ronda Rousey in the way she had envisioned.
