WWE News: Paige Attempting to Get Out of WWE Contract, Her Lawyers Are ‘Exploring Her Options’
The last time Paige was featured on WWE television was during a tag team match on the June 27th edition of Raw. She was partnered with Sasha Banks against the WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte and Dana Brooke. Paige and Sasha secured the victory, but it could be the last time we see Paige on WWE television.
Since then, her absence from WWE programming has been related to a neck injury that forced her to take a hiatus from the ring, and to a violation of the WWE Wellness Policy that cost her an additional thirty days of work. Those issues, along with her relationship with Alberto Del Rio getting a lot of negative attention from the WWE fans and WWE officials backstage, have essentially halted Paige’s WWE career for the time being.
Simply put, there is a great deal of speculation and concern about Paige’s future in WWE if the majority of these issues aren’t settled. Paige hasn’t been featured on WWE programming in over two months, which is a big indication that the longer her absence goes on, the less likely it becomes that she’ll be returning at all.
Paige was the first NXT Women’s Champion in history, which means a great deal only a few years later. She defeated AJ Lee during her main roster debut for the Divas Championship and ended AJ’s title reign at two hundred ninety-five days. Paige has been featured in big matches with many different opponents as a face and as a heel. The most impressive part is she accomplished all of this before the age of twenty-four.
The belief of the WWE Universe and in all likelihood WWE’s officials was that Paige would be a cornerstone of WWE’s Women’s Division for a long time, but the past few months have continued to reveal that she may not be a WWE Superstar for much longer, and her run with the company could be coming to an abrupt end.
Alberto Del Rio’s status with WWE has been well documented. He was suspended the same day as Paige for violating the WWE Wellness Policy. The belief is that he’s not coming back and will exercise his “escape clause” in his WWE contract that will allow him to leave WWE in October. It doesn’t seem like WWE will be putting up a fight as far as Del Rio is concerned, but it looks like Paige may be following him out the door.
For obvious reasons, Paige may not be willing to wait roughly three years for her WWE contract to expire if her heart is set on leaving the company, so she has apparently hired lawyers to “explore her options,” according to a new report released earlier today. However, that is unconfirmed as of this writing.
Aside from her ties to Alberto Del Rio and his issues with the company, there have been many reports about backstage issues with Paige since her relationship with him went public. As her role on WWE programming has weakened, it has been reported that WWE officials threatened her if she didn’t break up with Del Rio.
The fact is Paige is a highly decorated and young wrestler. She can easily go to any promotion or wrestle anywhere she likes. Her name is infamous within women’s wrestling, especially in NXT and WWE. She’d be able to continue wrestling outside of WWE based on the name she has created and her history. Paige is also a member of the Knight family is can do a great deal more with that outside of WWE.
It would be unfortunate to see a talent the quality of Paige leave the top wrestling company in the world, but WWE programming is already getting used to her absence and a few years away may make all parties grow fonder, so the two sides can do business and in the future. Nothing is confirmed, and Paige may have to wait out her WWE contract, but there is something to these reports if the news continues to get even deeper.
[Image via WWE.com]
