Former WWE Champion Was Only Cleared To Compete On Day Of Title Win

While we’ve seen the returns of both Daniel Bryan and Edge from what we thought were career-ending injuries, we’ve also seen stars like Tyson Kidd and Paige being forced into retirement prematurely, without any sign of a comeback.

Paige was just 25-years-old when she was forced to retire as a result of a neck injury, but speaking in an interview on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast, the former NXT and Divas champion revealed that she still very much considers herself a wrestler.

“It feels weird saying I don’t wrestle anymore, even to this day, and I haven’t wrestled in over two years, I think three years. Time flies, but I still call myself a wrestler even though I’m not. I was born into wrestling so I’m always going to have that. I always feel like—like the movie [Fighting With My Family] said, ‘like hepatitis’, we’re wrestlers. That can’t go away. You see old school wrestlers coming back, you just can’t get wrestling out of your mind, your body. Once you become a wrestler, that’s it. You sold your soul to the devil, my friend. You’re done, you’re finished.”

She also spoke about her memorable NXT Women’s Championship win, and how she wasn’t actually cleared until the day of her win.

“I want to talk about just for one second the day that I won the NXT Women’s Championship for the first time, I was actually cleared that day to wrestle. I nearly missed it because I had a dermoid cyst on my ovary that I had to have surgery to remove, [Triple H] literally cleared me that day, he was like, ‘If you can do ‘this, this, this and this’ the doctor says it’s OK and yes you can wrestle, but we can’t let you do ‘this’. I was like, ‘Oh my God I nearly missed that opportunity!’ Can you imagine if I wasn’t cleared?”

She explained that Tenille Dashwood (Emma in WWE) would likely have won the belt instead.

Paige is retired, and while she has admitted her neck feels a lot better, there are no signs that she is planning to return to the ring any time soon. She’s currently working on a book, which she says will shock a lot of people.

To listen to her appearance on Oral Sessions, click here.

Thanks to WrestleZone for the transcription.

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• Oral Sessions
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