The Future of Paige

Monokne

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Apparently, Del Rio has told WWE he is finishing up as soon as his opt out clause is active in September. Wonder will Paige try to get out of her contract now too or wait it out in the hope they release her first.

They've put a lot of equity in building her up into a star through Total Divas, Tough Enough and their regular programming. I don't know why they'd release her. Nor do I know why she'd want to go. Earn $50k for TNA for the 6 months or a year they're still in existence being watched by 250,000 people on POP having dreadful matches against Mia Yim or Maria Kanellis? :eek: Doesn't sound like a good idea.:)

Chain Smoker

Monokne wrote: »

They've put a lot of equity in building her up into a star through Total Divas, Tough Enough and their regular programming. I don't know why they'd release her. Nor do I know why she'd want to go. Earn $50k for TNA for the 6 months or a year they're still in existence being watched by 250,000 people on POP having dreadful matches against Mia Yim or Maria Kanellis? :eek: Doesn't sound like a good idea.:)

24 years old and from a family of lunatics, wouldn't put it past her.

Could also see Del Rio's response being "this girl is f*cking crazy" and dumping her pretty soon after.



The extremely favourable terms of Del Rio's exit (i.e. not having to do the 90 days and whatnot) does lend a lot of credence towards that crazy figure that was being thrown about when he returned (was it 2 million? it was definitely in the ballpark of what Rollins and Reigns were getting)

gnfnrhead

Monokne wrote: »

They've put a lot of equity in building her up into a star through Total Divas, Tough Enough and their regular programming. I don't know why they'd release her. Nor do I know why she'd want to go. Earn $50k for TNA for the 6 months or a year they're still in existence being watched by 250,000 people on POP having dreadful matches against Mia Yim or Maria Kanellis? :eek: Doesn't sound like a good idea.:)

She's been there for about 5 or 6 years and is treated like she is Alicia Fox level of talent. Considering she has been wrestling her entire life I could see her wanting to be treated better. Money wise, she would be crazy to leave. But I don't think anyone ever accused her family of being sane. In ring wise, she can do a lot better that she is currently getting.

As for your TNA comments, they've made it pretty obvious you don't even watch the show and are one of those who still have a LOLTNA mentality so I won't even bother with your "points".

sky88

gnfnrhead wrote: »

She's been there for about 5 or 6 years and is treated like she is Alicia Fox level of talent. Considering she has been wrestling her entire life I could see her wanting to be treated better. Money wise, she would be crazy to leave. But I don't think anyone ever accused her family of being sane. In ring wise, she can do a lot better that she is currently getting.

As for your TNA comments, they've made it pretty obvious you don't even watch the show and are one of those who still have a LOLTNA mentality so I won't even bother with your "points".

Paige hasnt been treated badly by wwe she was pushed to the moon the minute she debuted. Yes when charlotte,sasha and becky came up she took a backseat. she was still treated better then alica. i dont think its a coincidence that her push took a backseat when she got with del rio.

beakerjoe

sky88 wrote: »

Paige hasnt been treated badly by wwe she was pushed to the moon the minute she debuted. Yes when charlotte,sasha and becky came up she took a backseat. she was still treated better then alica. i dont think its a coincidence that her push took a backseat when she got with del rio.

Ah she was pushed strong but they really hadn't a clue what to do with her. Her feuds had no direction for the first year to be fair. I always felt she was sloppy in the ring and while she had experience, she was still immature as a performer.

sky88

beakerjoe wrote: »

Ah she was pushed strong but they really hadn't a clue what to do with her. Her feuds had no direction for the first year to be fair. I always felt she was sloppy in the ring and while she had experience, she was still immature as a performer.

The women in fairness have always been directionless even now that its better but still just bizarre at times how they are pushed or not.

SlickRic

Paige is just overrated. Vastly so. She also seems to have a greatly heightened opinion of herself.

She's not likeable as a babyface, and when she heels it up, it's 'go away' heat.

She's no loss at all.

CastorTroy

Think I said before, but I think the main problem with Paige was she was brought up as some sort of savior of women's wrestling at a time when it was all about the divas and not about the wrestling. So now she's stuck in that mentality when they actually started to make it about the wrestling.

Monokne

gnfnrhead wrote: »

She's been there for about 5 or 6 years and is treated like she is Alicia Fox level of talent. Considering she has been wrestling her entire life I could see her wanting to be treated better. Money wise, she would be crazy to leave. But I don't think anyone ever accused her family of being sane. In ring wise, she can do a lot better that she is currently getting.

As for your TNA comments, they've made it pretty obvious you don't even watch the show and are one of those who still have a LOLTNA mentality so I won't even bother with your "points".

1) She's been on the main roster 2 years and change. :cool:

2) There is no hotbed of women's talent out there that's paying any money, so where specifically is she going to go that she can get much better in ring?

3) I don't watch TNA every week but I do watch the show - Lashley is a great champion. Galloway is a great performer. EC3 should be in the main event picture on Raw right now. What does that have to do with anything? Perhaps rather than dismissing what I said based on a notion you've ascribed to me, you could just address the actual points I made?

My points on TNA were that:
- It's a dying promotion and has been for years. Their revenue doesn't come close to meeting their payroll and the brand is too badly damaged to be rescued.
- Their womens division contains people like Jade, Marti Bell, Madison Rayne, Sienna, Maria and of course who could forget Rebel! None of whom can work. Other than Gail Kim, there's no one on the roster who comes close to the level of the high end women in WWE (Nattie, Bayley, Sasha, Charlotte, Becky).

Are either of those points on TNA demonstrably untrue? I think they're pretty reasonable my friend.

thebostoncrab

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Paige is an ok wrestler. Wrestling your whole life doesn't instantly make you a great wrestler (Hell if it did I'd be an amazing bassist but I'm not!). The problem with Paige is that she believes she is the best and wakes around like she is, but all you need to do is compare her to Becky, Bailey, Sasha, Aska and Charlotte to see that she is not near their level.

She could do with having her ego taken down and spend more time working on her in ring training, even taken off to for awhile to spend more time in NXT.

I agree. I can't remember her having any amazing matches during her time so far with the company.

Also the way she shouts "this is my house" during her matches might be one of my most hated things in wrestling these days :P

x43r0

Deleted User wrote: »

Also the way she shouts "this is my house" during her matches might be one of my most hated things in wrestling these days :P

Agreed - Makes me cringe everytime

Lord TSC

thebostoncrab wrote: »

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Paige is an ok wrestler. Wrestling your whole life doesn't instantly make you a great wrestler (Hell if it did I'd be an amazing bassist but I'm not!). The problem with Paige is that she believes she is the best and wakes around like she is, but all you need to do is compare her to Becky, Bailey, Sasha, Aska and Charlotte to see that she is not near their level.

She could do with having her ego taken down and spend more time working on her in ring training, even taken off to for awhile to spend more time in NXT.

This is the issue though; a year ago, she was the best in the WWE, before the "women's revolution". Then she got eclipsed with the call ups. SO I can imagine it's hard for someone, in such a short space of time, to go from the top person in the company to the 5th or 6th, in terms of ability.

At least for someone like Cena, when people are passing him, they still keep him strong or still let him interact with the others. With Paige...if you're not in the top 3 spots on Raw, you may as well not exist as a woman...

beakerjoe

Paige is very capable but she was never used great by WWE despite her being womens champ

She had a great match with Emma in NXT before her call up and portrayed as a top competitor who was there based on her ability. Theres no doubt she is more than capable of having good-to-great matches.

However when she transitioned to the main roster, she was the victim, like many others from NXT ( Tyler Breeze, Apollo Crews, The Ascension...I could go on) of lazy booking. She was hotshotted into a feud with AJ Lee that had no direction whatsoever and was given zero character development in the first few months. During this time her character struggled with connecting with the audience past her look and her theme music, however she was still arguably the best of a bad bunch.

Her character languished in a sea of bad storylines (remember her “mutual crush nonsense with AJ Lee), and poor matches (herself and AJ Lee didn’t click, while her matches with the Bella’s were sloppy and slow at best).
Like Lord TSC stated earlier, she was eclipsed by Becky and Sasha in ring when they got promoted and Charlotte was pushed more intelligently at times than AJ or Paige ever was, plus the Bella’s improved dramatically (Well Nikki at least). She found herself out of her depth and she never really got a chance to have a good program with anyone besides Charlotte and that story was hurt by the Reid Flair cheap heat promo.

She is now got a lot of things going against her. Her lazy attitude, her association with Del Rio and a WWE creative being lazy at the best of times, Paige has an up hill struggle in my view making it back to the top of either womens divisions.

They should push Summer Rae ahead of her anyway.

leggo

Paige is a good wrestler. She can work. She's always struggled to get over but that's something that's one thing 'clicking' away from being resolved (e.g. Daniel Bryan chanting "yes" after winning a big match). Her problem is that she's lost novelty value with all the women being called up after her, so she seems old hat because she was the first. But that can be fixed easily if creative wants to shine a light on her, or if she comes up with something that's a game-changer the next chance she gets. Like how Dolph Ziggler or Roman Reigns are one effective heel turn from being the hottest act in the company.

WWE would be insane to let her go with so much upside, but they've done it with others before.

Agent Coulson

Paige lacks any kind of character she is just bland and boring I could see her working/getting over in a big way as Sister Abigail if done right.

Riddle101

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Paige lacks any kind of character she is just bland and boring I could see her working/getting over in a big way as Sister Abigail if done right.

I've seen her named been dropped for years but I honestly hate the idea of her being Sister Abigail. At this point she is too well established to just suddenly change character and become Abigail, and it's not like she's ever really shown to be a supernatural entity or anything. How do they explain her not being involved with the Wyatts in the past? It just doesn't fit with her history, or her personality.

Personally I always just believed that Sister Abigail wasn't a person, but more of a false deity created by Bray to manipulate and control people. I never really saw it as them worshiping a person named Sister Abigail, but a goddess or something.

Agent Coulson

Riddle101 wrote: »

I've seen her named been dropped for years but I honestly hate the idea of her being Sister Abigail. At this point she is too well established to just suddenly change character and become Abigail, and it's not like she's ever really shown to be a supernatural entity or anything. How do they explain her not being involved with the Wyatts in the past? It just doesn't fit with her history, or her personality.

Personally I always just believed that Sister Abigail wasn't a person, but more of a false deity created by Bray to manipulate and control people. I never really saw it as them worshiping a person named Sister Abigail, but a goddess or something.

The WWE caring about storyline history when has that ever stopped them.


If they think they can make money out of it they will do it and **** what the fans think or want.

Bounty Hunter

I could actually see a Wyatt angle doing wonders for her but I wouldn't have her as Sister Abigail. Instead just have creepy Bray become infatuated with her, keep showing up for her matches, and cutting promos about her. Say how he sees so much of Sister Abigail in her and how there is so much more to her than what she has shown in the WWE. Almost reference her Anti-Diva character by Bray saying that she is not like all the other women running around the lockeroom.... etc... Paige is kinda freaked out & repulsed by him but has to admit in interview that Bray is right about her not showing all of what she is capable of and that she actually has a darker side. Then have Bray show up after a Paige match and call her over to him. She is reluctant but wants to hear what he has to say then - LIGHTS OUT - and when they return Paige is gone. She then is not seen for a number of weeks, during which time Bray cuts promos about how Sister Paige has seen the light and is learning to unleash her inner demons under his tutelage. At the next PPV have her attach whoever wins the non title Divas feud ongoing after their match and totally destroy them. Have her attire slightly altered and Wyattafied too.

Eventually when Bray's actual sister (I believe she is now training) is ready to be Sister Abigail have Bray just drop her as a meer imitation and that the genuine article has arrived. Built in feud for both.



Obviously apart from the above being potential nonsense it'd also be a problem that shes on Raw but sure when her suspension is up just have her return to Raw and talk about how her contract is almost up too and have her say Steph / Foley will have to give her a big pay bump if they want her to resign which they refuse so she heads to the blue Brand.

Riddle101

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The WWE caring about storyline history when has that ever stopped them.


If they think they can make money out of it they will do it and **** what the fans think or want.

I don't see how they would make money out of it though. At least compared to what she does now. I mean she's one of their most popular divas, and probably sells tons of merchandise.

As far as WWE caring about storyline history goes. I'd like to think that WWE would have better sense than to just throw her into a storyline with Bray Wyatt randomly, with no interaction, or history behind it. Unless they do something like have Bray brainwash her. But if you saying that Paige is Sister Abigail, then she would have been Sister Abigail from the start, and that just doesn't work. She's too well established to make her Sister Abigail. Better to do it with someone relatively unknown.

Agent Coulson

Riddle101 wrote: »

I don't see how they would make money out of it though. At least compared to what she does now. I mean she's one of their most popular divas, and probably sells tons of merchandise.

As far as WWE caring about storyline history goes. I'd like to think that WWE would have better sense than to just throw her into a storyline with Bray Wyatt randomly, with no interaction, or history behind it. Unless they do something like have Bray brainwash her. But if you saying that Paige is Sister Abigail, then she would have been Sister Abigail from the start, and that just doesn't work. She's too well established to make her Sister Abigail. Better to do it with someone relatively unknown.

The WWE and storyline sense doesn't really exist anymore that's gone the way of the Dodo.

If Paige was selling a ton of merchandise she would be on tv every single week.

The money would come from the Wyatt storyline more than Paige herself.

I think Bounty Hunter with his post above has nailed how to get her working with the Wyatts to be honest.

beakerjoe

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The WWE and storyline sense doesn't really exist anymore that's gone the way of the Dodo.

If Paige was selling a ton of merchandise she would be on tv every single week.

The money would come from the Wyatt storyline more than Paige herself.

I think Bounty Hunter with his post above has nailed how to get her working with the Wyatts to be honest.

Zack Ryder was top of the merch sales at one stage, he was one tv now and then and jobbed out most times.

Agent Coulson

beakerjoe wrote: »

Zack Ryder was top of the merch sales at one stage, he was one tv now and then and jobbed out most times.

But he was still on tv even if he was losing.

Paige was only getting on tv once in a blue moon if that before the suspension and even before the so called Diva's revolution.

She has been out of the main picture since the end of Tough Enough in 2015 and even before that she was doing much.

beakerjoe

Agent Coulson wrote: »

But he was still on tv even if he was losing.

Paige was only getting on tv once in a blue moon if that before the suspension and even before the so called Diva's revolution.

She has been out of the main picture since the end of Tough Enough in 2015 and even before that she was doing much.

She was injured before her suspension, hence why she wasnt seen much.

When doing TE, she did have a busy schedule. TE was one thing, Total Divas another, signings and her actual WWE live event schedule. She was a busy girl on top of the grueling WWE travel and work. She may be rebelling a little with Papa Del Rio a bit.

Scavenger XIII

beakerjoe wrote: »

Papa Del Rio

Ok now it's even creepier. :pac:

Monokne

leggo wrote: »

Like how Dolph Ziggler or Roman Reigns are one effective heel turn from being the hottest act in the company.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I think this might have been a quite incredible exaggeration on your behalf, brother ;)

Monokne

beakerjoe wrote: »

Zack Ryder was top of the merch sales at one stage, he was one tv now and then and jobbed out most times.

Not to be a contrarian, but I hope you didn't mean this literally. At no point was Ryder anywhere close to Cena in merch sales. He may have been top 5 at one point though, for sure.

Mr.Nice Guy

I think she has plenty still to offer. She's unique enough that she stands out from all the other women, but I don't think Creative have ever truly figured our her character in any significant way. I can't think of any interesting storylines they've given her in all the years she's been there. I don't think she needs to become a Wyatt or anything too dramatic. I think they just need to let her play a more darker, edgier version of herself.

I'm certain that with a few weeks of hype vignettes featuring her talking about how she was the original woman of NXT , how she was the anti-diva before it became cool etc., I've no doubt she could return to the division and be just as over as any of the women.

If a wealthy Arab had a Ted Turner moment and decided to get into 'rasslin, and offered me the chance to be Eric Bischoff and draw up a list of names for him to go after, as far as women's names are concerned, Paige would be one of the top 3 names I'd want.

Monokne

Even though there are 4/5 women on the roster who consistently have better matches than her and have connected with the audience at a greater level?

Feels like it would be better to build a company around someone who's proven to get over to the level of their push or beyond it, than someone who has never quite gotten there.

To me the issue with Paige is two fold. Firstly, she just isn't very good in the ring. Her mechanics are sloppy and her matches feel closer to the divas of the past decade where it was moves for the sake of moves than the women of today where selling a body part and building a story is very much a part of their matches. Secondly, she just doesn't connect. When you get a glimpse of the real Paige like on the Steve Austin show or Tough Enough, it's easy to see why. She has personality but she's exceptionally juvenile and very scattered. She has that arrogance about her that you'd think would make her a good heel but her look is more babyface and her naivity can be quite endearing. That Austin show was an eye opener. She came off like a 15 year old, desperate to make an impression and show off her personality, but immature enough that she doesn't really know who she is yet. No wonder creative can't keep her straight. Look at Bayley or Charlotte. You see them in a non scripted environment and you know Bayley is a face and Charlotte is a heel. Paige is just strange.

Mr.Nice Guy

It's easy to have consistently good matches when you're working with very talented performers. Paige's work in NXT was quite good. I wonder how good Sasha would be seen as if she had to work with Nikki and Brie Bella, Alicia Fox, Tamina Snuka constantly over several months. (Also I have found Sasha to be quite sloppy in her matches since getting to the main roster)

I can understand that her mechanics come across as unpolished at times. I agree with that. I definitely don't agree she lacks an ability to connect, though. I think she has plenty of natural charisma. If you look at the number of followers she has on Twitter (1.5m +) it exceeds many top male stars like Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Sami Zayn (even Seth Rollins).

If I look back at women's wrestling over the past ten years I think only AJ is ahead of her in terms of star power and appeal, though perhaps Sasha will top her (and I think Bayley will become bigger than her).

Monokne

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

It's easy to have consistently good matches when you're working with very talented performers. Paige's work in NXT was quite good. I wonder how good Sasha would be seen as if she had to work with Nikki and Brie Bella, Alicia Fox, Tamina Snuka constantly over several months. (Also I have found Sasha to be quite sloppy in her matches since getting to the main roster)

I can understand that her mechanics come across as unpolished at times. I agree with that. I definitely don't agree she lacks an ability to connect, though. I think she has plenty of natural charisma. If you look at the number of followers she has on Twitter (1.5m +) it exceeds many top male stars like Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Sami Zayn (even Seth Rollins).

If I look back at women's wrestling over the past ten years I think only AJ is ahead of her in terms of star power and appeal, though perhaps Sasha will top her (and I think Bayley will become bigger than her).

Sasha isn't perfect. But she's a lot better than Paige.

Twitter followers don't mean anything. She's been a famous public figure for a long period of time and has exposure through various platforms (Tough Enough, Total Divas). Plus she's a hot chick. When I said she doesn't connect, I meant she doesn't resonate substantially with the audience. I can not recall a single match or story she's been involved with either as a heel or a babyface where the people were DESPERATE to see her lose or DESPERATE to see her win after he debut in WWE. Can you?

Her reactions are mild. People don't know how to take her. There's no money in that.

She doesn't hold a candle to Bayley. Like I'm sorry but this isn't a debatable point and it seems like such a silly hill to die on. In three appearances on the main roster she's gotten bigger reactions than anything Paige did outside her Raw debut, and it would be fair to estimate that she's sold about 10 times more merch while never being on TV than Paige has in her entire WWE career. I think people forget that in 2016, the money you draw for a company is still the best actual barometer of your stardom and they've sold a ****load of hugger shirts before most of their audience has even familiarised themselves with Bayley.

Not to mention, the genuine, emotional reactions for Bayley in Brooklyn last year and this year eclipse anything Paige has ever achieved and will ever achieve as well.

Look. Paige is a pretty girl and with her lineage in the business, I agree with the broader point that it feels like she should at some point have achieved more than she has and that maybe she can click better as a performer in the future(I hope & think she will). But let's not compare her to performers who have left her in the dust a long, long time ago. It just makes her look worse.