10 Booking Steps For Paige Following Her WWE Raw Return
A New Leaf
When WWE presented half of their July 2016 Draft on a Network-only post show, headlines were dominated by a Kalisto calamity in which the former Lucha Dragon botched a promo so spectacularly that it was directly referenced on-screen as the name of a short-lived dubstep variation of his entrance theme.
Less focused upon was the backstage turmoil triggered by the decision to separate real life couple Paige and Alberto Del Rio by moves to Raw and SmackDown respectively. Splitting up partners wasn't new ground for WWE, but the pair's responses to the move were beyond the usual talent protests.
Both disappeared, with Del Rio exiting the company outright whilst Paige got swamped in a controversial quagmire of Wellness Policy violations, personal traumas and an extended period of rehabilitation for a neck injury suffered shortly before the tumultuous hiatus. It looked increasingly as though she'd never return to WWE, with wider concerns over her health and wellbeing trumping the particular push to restart her career.
However, a spate of summer social media posts from the WWE Performance Centre revealed a fresh new reality. An alleged split with Del Rio seemed to increase the likelihood of an imminent comeback, and rumours were finally confirmed as she strolled back into Raw business on the post-Survivor Series edition of the flagship show.
Firmly entrenched on Raw from the off with her new 'Allegiance' group made up of Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, how will WWE book their beloved returnee now she's surprisingly stepped back into battle?
10. Raw Rage
Riding the wave of an explosive comeback pop, Paige was in fine form as she walked the Raw ramp milking the response from the Houston Crowd. The cheers didn't particularly dissolve when she set her new accomplices on Mickie James, Sasha Banks and Bayley as their Number One Contender's Fatal Four-way alongside Alicia Fox completely collapsed.
The three in the ring may technically be babyfaces, but the booking of the league on Monday Nights this year has been so pitiful that most have been reduced to shadows of their former selves, with any significant traction disappearing alongside title aspirations.
Less than a year earlier, and Bayley and Banks especially taking such a brutal beating would have been loathed by the live crowds, but the Toyota Center attendees were far too entranced by Paige's arrival to care.
Over the upcoming weeks, the trio need to mercilessly continue their assaults until they are firmly established as a vile threat to the very fabric of Monday Night Raw. WWE established a temporary 'Welcoming Committee' stable on SmackDown Live! as a vehicle to establish new arrival Charlotte Flair as a blue brand babyface. They're capable of resetting the character moulds with similar beatdowns.