WWE would reportedly be done with Paige already, if not for upcoming biopic

We publish a whole lot of content here at Cageside Seats. We’re also [looks around and whispers so the bosses can’t hear] not the only place producing wrestling content on the internet. So, as a service to you on the weekdays, we’ll be producing a wrestling newsletter, "Rude Awakening." Well, it will be a newsletter eventually: for now, it’ll just be part of your experience here at Cageside, collecting the news, recaps, and social moments from the greater wrestling universe daily so you won’t fall behind, with a newsletter format to come.

The relationship between Paige and WWE has been fairly private, outside of hints dropped on Total Divas and whispers saying it’s in trouble. That isn’t to say that we know nothing about Paige’s private life or what she might currently think of WWE: thanks to Alberto El Patron and his videos criticizing Triple H and the WWE — videos that Paige participated in and also shared on social media — we can get a pretty good sense of things.

Now, we’ve got Dave Meltzer saying on Wrestling Observer Radio (hat tip, SESCoops) that Paige is out because she’s still working her way back from neck surgery, but the reality of things is that she wouldn’t even be coming back to WWE if not for the upcoming biopic featuring her and her family — a movie that Rock’s production company is working on, that’s already done some filming with WWE sets. This isn’t surprising: you didn’t need Meltzer or his sources in order to guess at this, but having him report on it does make it seem that much more real.

Paige is engaged to El Patron, who works for Impact and is currently their Global Force champ. She participated in videos running down Triple H and her employer, even if she, in the videos, tried to get Alberto to stop, remember that she still shared them in the end. It sure feels like the two are trying to get her out from her WWE deal so she can move on to Impact with El Patron, but that biopic was always going to be the road block keeping her from leaving. If what Meltzer reports is true, though, once WWE has made the money they want to and gotten the attention they desire from the biopic, maybe Paige will end up released and everyone will be happy. Or something.

• In happier news, here’s Rusev firing up Nashville Predator fans during a playoff game.
• And back to bad news: Tommaso Ciampa was seemingly injured at an NXT house show on Thursday, putting DIY vs. Authors of Pain at TakeOver: Chicago into question.
• If Kurt Angle is going to wrestle in WWE, the rumor is that it won’t be for some time yet.
• Matt Hardy’s son, King Maxel, is out here training harder than all of us.
• Stephanie McMahon would “love” to have women main-event WrestleMania. Me too, Steph.
• Randy Orton: Indie Hater needs to be his new gimmick. Lean into recent events, WWE, and give Orton the focus and matchups he needs.
• Matt Riddle thinks head shots in pro wrestling are “reckless,” and dude is not wrong.
• Impact had a solid episode this week, though, there were some odd decisions that kept it from being better than that.
• A pro wrestling promotion is offering CM Punk $1 million to wrestle for them. It’ll never happen, which is how they can offer $1 million in the first place, and now everybody knows their show exists.
• On the other side of things, Dean Ambrose’s price to fight an MMA bout is apparently $500,000.
• The R-Truth/Goldust feud has reached social media, and it seems like it’s got some real promise.
• The retro Best and Worst of WCW for this week features the arrival of Curt Hennig, whom Ric Flair definitely should not have trusted.