Last week on Raw, Paige officially announced her in-ring retirement after months of speculation about her WWE future. However, Shane McMahon announced her as the new General Manager of SmackDown Live the next night during the show. It was a pleasant surprise for the WWE Universe to see her in the new role on WWE programming, but there’s a huge reason why WWE officials wanted her to transition into the role.
According to a report from DirtySheets , WWE officials were planning for William Regal to be “promoted” to SmackDown Live and be the new GM. Jeff Jarrett would have become the authority figure for NXT, but Vince McMahon decided that Paige needed to be featured in an important position on WWE programming to help push the film Fighting With my Family that was heavily promoted during WrestleMania weekend.
The movie will be released domestically and in the United Kingdom this September. Unless something big changes, Paige will be working as the GM of SmackDown Live for the foreseeable future. It’s a role she can thrive in with her verbal skills on the microphone and the respect she has gained from her peers and WWE fans. However, there’s still some hope regarding her in-ring future and she could wrestling again someday.
It’s being rumored on Rajah that many WWE officials and other people backstage are expecting Paige to be medically cleared eventually. Her situation has received a lot of comparisons to Daniel Bryan’s situation. It might take a few years, but Paige is much younger and isn’t suffering from spinal issues like other wrestlers who have been forced to end their career early. For now, Paige staying on WWE TV is the important thing.
On paper, WWE officials wanted to promote the new film about her life and Paige needed to transition into a new role within the company. For now, her position as the new General Manager of SmackDown Live is the best thing for Paige and the company. As she gets more comfortable in the role, the former WWE Divas Champion should do a wonderful job until her health improves enough to get back into the ring to wrestle.