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Paige Says Her WWE Contract Expires in June 2022 After Rumors of 2023 Date
August 29, 2021
Paige revealed Saturday that her contract with WWE expires in June 2022 rather than in 2023 as originally thought.
According to Fightful Select (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), Paige said on her Twitch stream that her deal is up in less than a year, adding: "Who knows if they would want to give me a new contract? Who's to say they would want to? If they did, I'd love to have Twitch as a part of the contract."
PWInsider (h/t Upton) previously reported that Paige signed a multiyear deal with WWE in 2019 that ran through 2023.
Paige has not competed in a match since December 2017, as she was forced to retire from in-ring competition because of multiple neck injuries.
Since her in-ring retirement, WWE has used Paige in a number of different roles, including SmackDown general manager, manager of the Kabuki Warriors and a member of the WWE Backstage panel.
WWE Backstage aired on FS1 for parts of 2019 and 2020 before getting canceled, leaving Paige without any clear role in WWE.
Currently, she is best known for Twitch streaming on her Saraya account, which could become a point of contention if she attempts to negotiate a new contract with WWE since the company attempted to crack down on its talent streaming on Twitch last year.
The 29-year-old native of England has also been vocal about her hope that she will one day be able to get back in the ring.
Edge proved that it is possible to return from an apparent career-ending neck injury, as he sat on the sidelines for nine years before coming back in the 2020 men's Royal Rumble match.
If Paige does return to the ring at some point, WWE or any other company that signs her would be getting one of the top women's wrestlers of the past 20 years.
In addition to being the first-ever NXT Women's champion, Paige famously beat AJ Lee for the Divas Championship on her first night as part of the main roster. Paige is a two-time Divas champion overall.
Lately, a great deal of talent that has either been released by WWE or allowed their contract to expire has signed with rival promotion AEW.
Malakai Black, Andrade El Idolo and Miro are just a few such names, while AEW signed former WWE star CM Punk and is expected to bring in former WWE star Daniel Bryan as well.
It remains to be seen if that will impact WWE's future negotiations with Paige, but for now she remains under contract and is not cleared to compete in the ring.
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