Inside ex-WWE star Paige’s life from horror injury to possible UK in-ring return

To many wrestling fans, former WWE star Paige is arguably one of, if not the best British females to ever lace up a pair of boots.

And it was a shock to many when she suffered an injury to her neck and spine so badly that it left Norwich-born Saraya-Jade Bevis unable to step foot into a ring ever again in 2018.

Given that she turns 30 today, its fair to say that her career ended before it really got the chance to kick in.

READ MORE: Brit WWE star Paige hits back at troll and says she would ‘make a killing on OnlyFans’

Saraya, as she is now known since leaving WWE earlier this year, grew up in a wrestling family.

Her 50-year-old mum Julia Hamer – known as Sweet Saraya in the ring – is still an active wrestler, as her brother Zak Zodiac and half-brother Roy Bevis.

Her dad, Ricky Knight, is the owner of World Association of Wrestling in Norwich, while her mum owns Bellatrix Female Warriors.

The former is where current Impact Wrestling star Chelsea Green will battle Sweet Saraya in October.

The younger Saraya’s story was detailed in the film fighting with my family, which was a remake of a television documentary from 2012 of the same name.

Having grown up on a council estate in Norwich, she made her in-ring debut for her dad’s promotion under the name of Britani Night aged just 13.

Having proven herself over the next few years as one of the UK’s best, she joined WWE in 2011, and quickly became the youngest ever Divas Champion in 2014 – the title is basically WWE’s Women’s Championship, but it was a very different title at that point and looked like a butterfly . . .

Paige, as she was rebranded to, was often outspoken and the fans loved her for it.

She very quickly became a favourite, and won three championships during her time there – she was so good that Pro Wrestling Illustrated labelled her as the best female wrestler in the world in 2014.

But multiple neck injuries, and a few comeback attempts, ultimately ended up in disaster for Paige as she was forced to retire for good in 2018

But just before she retired, it was in 2017 when her world was turned upside down when she was the subject of a horrific sex tape leak involving former and current WWE stars, had a failed WWE drugs tests and capped it all off with the career ending injury

She opened up about the issues in to The Mirror in 2018.

She said: “You hear a bunch of my stories, the year and a half I took out, just everything. All the trouble I got myself into… I was just very open about everything.

“I was very open with the taped sex that unfortunately got leaked, and the [failing] of drug tests.

“I was just very open about everything because I want people to learn from my mistakes, you know?

“I was at rock bottom for a year and a half – and the people who got me out of my rut were my fans.

“They were just like ‘I know you can get out of this, you’re stronger than what you feel right now, I know you can make a comeback’.

“It just inspired me like ‘you’re right, why do I feel like I’m giving up right now?’.”

She later suffered from a failed engagement to controversial former WWE star Alberto Del Rio, and took time away from the ring to become a star on streaming service Twitch where she plays games and talks to fans.

Paige was retained by WWE as an on-screen General Manager – a role the fans loved her in – and she was also used as a brand ambassador around the world.

But her injury hell still remained.

In recent years, formerly retired WWE legends Daniel Bryan (now Bryan Danielson in AEW) and Edge made comebacks from similar career-ending injuries after years away from the ring.

And that appears to have given Saraya hope of being able to do the same.

Sources claim that while she was under contract to WWE, the company would never risk allowing her to return – but that contract ended in July, and she is scheduled to appear at World Association Wrestling in October at Fightmare IV in Norwich.

No plans about what she will be doing at the show have been revealed – but it’s possible she could take to the ring in some form.

It’s fair to say that fans would love to see her return to the ring, in what would be the ultimate comeback story.

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