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WWE: What’s Going on with Paige?

By Pico

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Former Divas Champion Paige slipped to the 7th Round of the WWE Draft, continuing her downward trend.

The WWE Draft 2016 offered a unique opportunity for superstars to solidify their standing in the company or be reestablished with a strategically placed draft selection. So clearly something had gone wrong when Paige slipped out of the top 30 picks on SmackDown Live. One of the world’s premier female wrestler who also happens to have a stout fan base seemed like an afterthought by the end of the draft. There was no post-draft interview with JoJo nor was she ever spotted sporting the red t-shirt.

It was just slightly over one month ago that we saw Paige defeat Charlotte on an episode of Monday Night Raw.

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This was a very promising win for the 23-year-old whom up to this point had accomplished an extraordinary amount in her WWE career. Charlotte had not taken many losses in her reign as champion which made Paige’s victory even more impressive. For the second consecutive week, a match between Paige and Charlotte was booked but this one was for the Women’s Championship. There was no reason for anyone to think that Paige would walk out wearing the belt but she had surprised us all before. Remember, this is the person that won the Divas Championship on the same night she debuted on the main roster.

Despite taking the loss, Paige was booked strong as she once again had the champion beat until Dana Brooke interfered. At the end of the match, we saw the return of “The Boss” Sasha Banks who had been out of action due to injury. Banks quickly got the better of the champion and then attempted to pose with the belt. She was attacked from behind by Dana Brooke and it was Paige that would end up making the save. Due to the events that transpired, a tag team match was set for the following week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.

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Even though she may not have secured the winning pinfall, Paige did clinch the victory for her team with a big boot to the Women’s Champion. In a short amount of time Paige had solidified herself as a legitimate threat to end Charlotte’s reign at the top. The reemergence of Paige and the return of Sasha Banks gave the Women’s Division a much-needed boost in terms of competition.

One would have expected a rubber match between Paige and the current champion to occur since they each had a singles victory over each other. Worst case scenario Paige fans figured that they would get to see the continuation of her program but now with the inclusion of Sasha Banks. Why else would the WWE book her in way that would allow everyone watching to perceive her as at the very least an equal to Charlotte? In a three-week window, she had an edge on the champion and the momentum she was building was signaling for a very bright future.

For the first time in almost a month not only did Paige not have a match on Raw, she wasn’t even seen on the broadcast. There was no story line explaining her absence nor was she even mentioned when Charlotte had her mandatory screen time which she shared with Sasha Banks. There were rumors that she was involved in some altercation on the night of Money in the Bank which was on the 19th of June. Those rumors seemed to be debunked after she participated on Raw the following two weeks after the event. Why would the WWE continue what seemed as a push only to remove her from the picture without any effort to tie it into the storyline?

Paige remained absent from WWE programming in the weeks that followed and the story line between Charlotte and Sasha Banks continued with Dana Brookes participating as well. Despite not getting screen time heading into the WWE Draft, Paige was still viewed as one of the few elite women in the WWE. So when five women went drafted on SmackDown Live it would have been easy to assume that Paige would have been one of them. This was not the case and by the end of SmackDown, it was Nia Jax and Natalya that had joined the trio of Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte as draftees. The fall from grace for Paige came fast and it was steep which drew the ire of her fan base.

“#PaigeDeservesBetter” quickly began trending on twitter.

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Paige was selected at the end of the 7th round by Monday Night Raw with the 35th Overall pick. Women drafted shortly after her in the WWE Networks portion of the draft where Naomi, Summer Rae, Alexa Bliss, and Eva Marie. Her position on the draft board combined with her lack of screen time pushed for fans to deliver the Paige Deserves Better message on social media. Having her placed with the bottom half of the female talent was afar cry from where she stood just one month ago.

In addition to her being dropped down the WWE totem pole, Paige was also separated from Alberto Del Rio whom she was dating but is rumored to have broken up with. She has removed anything referencing Del Rio from her Instagram account.

This past May Paige posted this quote on her Instagram account which may lead one to think that she saw the writing on the wall.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFe0tPeRphk/?taken-by=realpaigewwe

Not enough is know about the circumstances regarding the abrupt end of Paige’s storyline with Charlotte. Most are hoping that she is going to be the mysterious partner that Sasha Banks lined up for Battleground. This seems a little far-fetched since that would essentially be the same match that we saw on the June 27th episode of Raw. If she does end up being Banks’ tag team partner I hope a reason would be given on why she mysteriously vanished only to come back a few weeks later. A simple injury angle would have worked just as well and would have at least softened the blow when it came to her slip in the draft. Instead, the WWE Universe got no explanation which is something they have grown tired of.

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Hopefully, whatever has happened to Paige is something that will only last for the short term and not hinder her young career. She is an elite talent who has dedicated herself to wrestling as well as to her tremendous fan base. We will all continue to ask ourselves “What’s going on with Paige?” until she gets back to doing what she does best. The WWE cannot risk losing out on this gem of a superstar that has grown within their system and has yet to reach her peak. She has delivered on every opportunity she has earned which is why the WWE Universe has made themselves clear.

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