5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Jan 19)

2. Paige's Enforced Retirement

Paige Emma
WWE.com

This was a shocking and incredibly sad story; Paige, at just 25 years of age, has been retired by WWE as a result of an undetermined neck injury - almost immediately following a two-year personal hell scape in which she was slut-shamed to such an extent that she succumbed to an eating disorder and stress-induced hair loss.

To this day, Paige receives "slut" accusations across putrid YouTube comments sections - funny how Brad Maddox has never once been called that - but here's hoping that the Anti-Diva is aware that far more fans will remember her awesome, crucial contributions to the nascent NXT brand between 2012 and 2014. She set the bar, alongside Emma, for Women's wrestling in WWE. Those matches really were something, and shouldn't just be couched in the better-than-the-Divas faint praise narrative. There was something brave about them; Emma played the dork, and Paige unashamedly rocked an aesthetic antithetical to what the company more or less mandated at the time. They let the wrestling do the talking, and her influence, even if indirectly, remains central to the product. It will do as long as her successors pick up the baton.

Scant consolation for the loss of her livelihood - but few wrestlers can lay genuine claim to changing the game.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!