A Huge Former WWE Star Hints At Possibly Coming Out Of Retirement

WWE has made a habit out of bringing major stars out of retirement, and that trend could continue with one of the most popular female stars in company history.

Here is what Paige, who was forced to retire in 2018 due to what was thought to be a career-ending neck injury, recently told Inside the Ropes (h/t WrestlingNews.co) about potentially wrestling again:

“I think it is always a possibility one day, you can never say never. It’s not going to be any time soon. That’s mostly all I can say about it, it’s really hard because I just had a neck surgery in August. My neck is just getting healthier quicker the second time around which is crazy. I feel absolutely fantastic. We’ll see where it goes.”

The youngest Divas Champion in history, Paige underwent her first neck surgery in October 2016 and returned to the ring in December 2017. However, Paige was injured later that month during a non-televised live event after taking a stiff kick from Sasha Banks, ultimately resulting in her forced retirement just a few months later. The night after WrestleMania 34 in April 2018, Paige officially announced her retirement in a heart-wrenching segment on Raw, and the following night, she was named the General Manager of SmackDown. Following a brief stint in that role, she had another short stint on TV, this time as the manager for Asuka and Kairi Sane of the Kabuki Warriors, but she was removed from that role after undergoing another neck surgery in August 2019. She was seemingly written off TV once again in October 2019 after being attacked by the Kabuki Warriors on Raw and has largely appeared only on WWE’s studio show WWE Backstage since the show debuted in November 2019.

Earlier this year, however, there was rampant speculation that Paige might be returning to the ring.

Following the shocking return of Edge at the 2020 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Paige noted that Edge’s return “gave her hope” about potentially returning to the squared circle. Much like Paige, Edge was forced to retire from in-ring competition way back in 2011 and did so on Raw the night after WrestleMania in one of the most emotional moments in WWE history. Edge’s situation was eerily similar to Paige in that their history of major neck issues seemingly meant that they could be one bad bump away from a life-altering neck injury. Edge being cleared came as a massive surprise, but “The Rated R Superstar” has signed a lucrative new deal with the company that will see him wrestle just a handful of times each year after he had discussions with AEW about potentially wrestling for the upstart promotion.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson has speculated that one of the reasons why Edge was ultimately cleared by WWE was to prevent him from going to AEW and that might also be the case for Paige, but nothing in that regard has been at all confirmed. It does, however, seem that the chances of Paige getting the green light to wrestle again are better than they’ve been at any point in recent memory. Edge, after all, isn’t the only WWE star who’s recently returned from what was thought to be a career-ending injury.

Daniel Bryan famously returned to the ring in 2018 after being cleared following a three-year hiatus that ultimately forced him into retirement due to his history of head injuries. Likewise, Sheamus—despite, like Paige, dealing with spinal stenosis—was able to return to the ring earlier this year after a lengthy absence from WWE programming that seemed to put his career in jeopardy. The recent returns of Edge, Sheamus and Bryan have, of course, given stars like Paige hope about the advances in medicine potentially giving them the opportunity to do what they love again.

Paige re-signed with WWE last year, inking a multi-year contract, and continues to work in a do-it-all ambassadorial role for the company while making limited appearances on television. Most recently, she found herself involved in the SmackDown Women’s Championship feud but seems to have been removed from that storyline after informing WWE she wasn’t willing to travel to Orlando due to concerns regarding the coronavirus.

But if Paige has it her way, she will ultimately be able to follow in the footsteps of Edge and Bryan and get the all clear to transition from being a WWE ambassador back to being a full-blown WWE superstar. At least, she’s holding out hope that she does.