WWE: Could Paige Be SmackDown Live’s New Babyface Commentator?

Although Paige did a fantastic job as the SmackDown Live General Manager, WWE removed her from the position in order to usher in a “new era” of on-screen management, led by familiar faces in the form of the McMahons. Paige, however, will have a role on SmackDown, and while it’s unclear what that will be, perhaps she could become a commentator.

WWE SmackDown has been excellent this year, and Paige’s work as the General Manager has been a large part of that. Paige deftly balanced the egos on SmackDown, namely The Miz and her former Absolution stablemates, as the GM, showing great chemistry with every single wrestler on the roster. A strong babyface GM, Paige received positive reactions every night as a true fan favorite, and she will be missed as the leader of the show.

The company has likely been feeling some heat due to declining ratings, and perhaps even rumblings of Cody Rhodes’s potential venture, All Elite Wrestling, have stirred up a need for change. WWE is promising fans more of what they want in an effort to “freshen” up the product, and both Mustafa Ali’s pin of Daniel Bryan and Raw’s Women’s Gauntlet Match seem like steps in that direction.

However, it was puzzling to see that Paige was removed from the GM position, as Shane McMahon made that announcement to kick off the show last night, with the other members of the roster thanking Paige for her hard work. Paige shifted seamlessly into a role as an on-screen authority figure after her heartbreaking retirement from in-ring competition in WWE. Shane stated that she will still have a role on SmackDown, but the exact nature of her role is unclear.

Some fans have speculated that Paige could become a manager, and she did have a back-and-forth with Zelina Vega, who manages former NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas, on Twitter.

PWInsider.com’s Mike Johnson opined that Paige could become a new kick-off show panelist for WWE, and the TLC kick-off panel that included David Otunga and Jonathan Coachman was relatively weak, with Booker T mostly carrying the proceedings. We’ve seen Paige on the kick-off panel before, and she’s excelled in that role.

However, I envision Paige doing even more than that, because she has experience doing commentary and seemed much-improved as an analyst when appearing on those kick-off panels. I like @ImHeatherThomas’s suggestion of Paige potentially becoming a color commentator on SmackDown Live.

What piqued my interest about this suggestion, too, is the absence of Byron Saxton as the babyface commentator. David Otunga quietly replaced Saxton on commentary at TLC (for the SmackDown matches) and on last night’s television episode. No details explaining Saxton’s absence has been revealed, so it’s important not to jump to conclusions. But I do think it’s a relevant detail, since WWE has been making some interesting changes of late.

Plus, Saxton has been active in posting WWE.com digital content over the past couple of months, producing some high-quality interviews with talents like Mia Yim, providing the WWE Universe with valuable insight into wrestlers and their background prior to wrestling. Saxton has a gift for this, and perhaps WWE would make a little trade here, with Saxton focusing on that aspect of strengthening the company’s brand.

While Saxton is an underrated commentator and shares a good rapport with Corey Graves, some fans dislike him, and Paige would be a more compelling voice, given her popularity with the WWE Universe and her quick wit.

Transitioning to commentary isn’t easy, but Renee Young, who has past experience commentating with (unlike Paige) no experience wrestling, has done an excellent job on Raw over the past few months. She’s been a noticeable upgrade over Booker and Coachman, creating some memorable moments already with Graves.

I think there are several different possible roles for the talented and well-respected Paige on SmackDown, even though it’s frustrating to see that she’ll no longer continue to be one of WWE’s most popular GMs. A position on commentary as part of a three-person booth with Tom Phillips and Graves seems like an intriguing idea to me, and it’s worth considering as we learn more about WWE’s expected changes to the product.