WWE Prodigy Paige Shares the Advice
“The Rock” Gave Her
The WWE DIVA wrestling prodigy known as Paige — who is also a star on E! Entertainment Channel’s Total Divas — has earned enough experience in entertainment for three lifetimes, and she is only 22 years of age.
Born in Norwich, Norfolk, England, Paige had her WWE debut on April 4, 2014. She won the Diva’s championship in her first match against A.J. Lee in New Orleans. At the time she was only 21, making her the youngest WWE Divas champion in WWE history. She has been lighting up the stage and taking the world by storm on the biggest platform in wrestling ever since.
But her wrestling story begins much earlier than anyone would ever guess. Technically, she’s been wrestling since she was a baby in her mother’s womb. Her mother wrestled in a match not knowing that she was seven months pregnant with Paige. When Paige was 13, her father, who was running a show, allowed her to participate in a tag team match with her mother when another wrestler failed to turn up. And, by 14, she was traveling all over the world to wrestle: Scotland, Wales, Belgium, France, Turkey, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and the United States.
When I heard that Paige would be participating in the WWE pay per view Fastlane event in Memphis and in the Monday Night Raw in Nashville the following night — where I will be in attendance — I jumped at the chance to interview her. At the Memphis match, she will be chasing her third championship — an unheard of accomplishment for a wrestler her age:
How do you feel about challenging Nikki Bella for the Diva’s championship at Fastlane in Memphis?
I am so excited. I have actually beaten Nikki twice, and she hasn’t beaten me yet, so we will see. She is an awesome competitor. She just keeps getting better and better each match she does. So I feel like it is going to be a really competitive, high-octane match, at least. But hopefully I can walk out the three-time WWE Diva’s champion at the age of 22.
How did “This is my house” become your catchphrase?
It was actually me and A.J. Lee were just thinking about it one day, and when I wrestled in my debut, A.J. said to me, “this is my house.” And then she went away for a while, and I started saying it, this is my house. And, basically, it just started from my first match with A.J., and I just started using it.
How do you feel about being on the show Total Divas?
At first I wasn’t really sure about it because I like to keep my personal life my personal life usually. So it was kind of weird at first and really hard to open up, but it is kinda of like therapy: you don’t really have a choice [laughs]. You can’t help but open up in it. It is cool and it is fun.
This question we ask everyone we interview. Is there any spiritual belief or philosophy that has sustained you over the years?
[laughs] No, I don’t think so. [laughs]
What did it feel like at 14 to be turned loose, to go out on your own and wrestle all over the world?
I started when I was 13. It was incredible. So I started when I was 13, and I started traveling the world by the time I was 14. It was kind of like I had to grow up real quick and it was a lot of fun, and I was out there and my goal was to be in the WWE, so I had to get as much exposure as possible and get out there and wrestle, so that is exactly what I did. So the jump from America to England was a lot easier for me.
You are my daughter Sierra’s favorite wrestler. Do you have any advice to give to young girls who want to be in the entertainment industry?
I say exactly what Dewayne “The Rock” Johnson said to me one day. He said, “All you have to do is just stay humble and hungry.” And that is exactly what I live by, so and I say: be patient, it is going to take a while, everything is going to come, and always have a back-up plan like I always have a back-up plan just in case.
If you were not wrestling, you would be doing what?
I would work with animals. I am a big animal enthusiast [laughs]. I like them more than most people sometimes [laughs].
