Paige is one of the most popular Divas in WWE and is at the center of a new Divas Revolution.
If fans still want more of the British sensation after seeing her wrestle every week, they can satisfy their craving by seeing her as a tough judge on WWE’s Tough Enough or check out her bubbly personality on E!’s Total Divas.
With a schedule like that and prepping for SummerSlam, we were fortunate to get to speak with the busy star and jumped on the opportunity.
SummerSlam and The Divas Division
CraveOnline: SummerSlam is less than a week away. You’re in the 3-team Divas tag team match coming up. What can we expect in that match and who are you looking forward to hitting the most?
Paige: [Laughs] Well, I really enjoy fighting with The Bellas and Sasha Banks. I’m always really happy dealing with Charlotte and Becky [Lynch]. I definitely think we’re the most dominant team of the three. Basically, we’re able to showcase what we can do and with nine of us in the match, it could be awesome.
CraveOnline: Do the women in the back feel pressure to take advantage of this opportunity?
Paige: I don’t know if it’s pressure but it’s definitely an opportunity the ladies want to step up and join in and I’m really looking forward to it. I’d love to see Natalya join in and Emma and maybe, even Bailey from NXT and create a whole new team … I’d love it. The more the merrier.
The more matches we have and the different people we can wrestle is awesome. At one point, it was basically just me and the Bellas each week killing it and now there’s just so many matches we can have and it’s great.
Birthday Plans
CraveOnline: Speaking of SummerSlam, you won the Divas championship last year on your birthday and this year you’re going to be working RAW on your birthday as well. Did you do anything to celebrate last year that you can remember and do you have any plans to celebrate this year?
Paige: Well, last year obviously at SummerSlam, I won the championship and that was like the best gift I could ever have but I didn’t really get to do much. I was just at the show and had to travel to the next town but I was just happy with winning it.
Maybe this year, we’re on the east coast so I’m having a bunch of friends come visit me and we can just celebrate afterward [laughs]. We’ll celebrate a victory as well if I have a match on RAW too.
Total Divas
CraveOnline: Let’s talk a little bit about Total Divas. Do you ever watch yourself on the show?
Paige: I do watch myself. It’s real weird though because I’ll be doing Tough Enough live and then straight after Tough Enough is Total Divas so I’m not home in time to watch it but I’ll record it and then watch it back but I always cringe watching myself. I’m just like “Oh my gosh, I really sound like that and act like that?” I’m like “I am such a shit” [laughs].
CraveOnline: When they do the one-on-one interviews with like Nikki [Bella] and the other girls say something, do you ever find yourself being like “I can’t believe they said that” once the show airs?
Paige: [Laughs] No. You kind of get used to it after awhile. Doing a couple of seasons now, you don’t know that they said something and then I’ll go up to them and say, “Oh yeah? Is that what you think [laughs]? It’s cool though. We’ll shoot those a few months back or something like that and then it will be like “Okay. Well, that was then this is now. I like you again now.”
Best rib?
CraveOnline: I know there’s a big camaraderie in the back so do the Divas ever rib each other like the guys do and if so, what was your favorite?
Paige: I’m probably the ribber of the girls [laughs]. My favorite one is the one I did to a guy…Titus [O’neil]. I laugh at it now but at the time he was so mad at me.
There’s like a little tickle stick. It gives you a little shock but it’s not bad. I took it and I was fine but I did it to him on the back of his leg and field goal kicked the camera guys [laughs] and he was screaming at me. We were screaming at each other for a second but it was really funny.
Divas Money in the Bank?
CraveOnline: What is more compelling? A Divas Tag-Team title? Queen of the Ring? Or a Divas Money in the Bank?
Paige: Ooh. I would love to have a Divas Money in the Bank. That would be cool. I would love to have a Divas Hardcore championship. If we had a hardcore cage, we’ll just paint the cage pink or something and make it extra girly so it’s so like Diva. I feel like with the girls now, we’re able to have these matches especially like Money in the Bank like ladder matches and stuff if we wanted them, we could definitely get away with stuff like that so hopefully in the future we can have one of those championships.
CraveOnline: Feel free to pass that on to WWE Creative. You can take credit for that.
Paige: Oh, yeah. I’ll let them know you said it [laughs].
Pre-Match Routine and Nerves
CraveOnline: What’s the pre-match routine like for you? Take us through that process.
Paige: Everyone kind of stretches and does their own thing. I kind of just have to chill by myself for a second and just like take it all in because I get really nervous before a match. They say if you don’t get nervous you should quit so that’s a good thing. I just have to chill by myself.
I’ll listen to music and just put on my headphones and have a moment. That’s pretty much what I do but everyone else just kind of stretches and running laps and doing everything they can to warm up. I’m like the music lover.
CraveOnline: Do you have a specific band you listen to in order to get amped up?
Paige: I’ll listen to any band but I have to support the boyf[riend]. I’m not being biased but I’ll listen to his band A Day To Remember before I go out because I know he will be watching as well and it puts me in a good zone.
WWE Performance Center
CraveOnline: You have a ton of experience and you came up in NXT. What’s a typical day at WWE’s Performance Center like?
Paige: It’s good but it’s tough.
A lot of people will get up and be in the Performance Center by 8 in the morning and go into the gym with our personal trainer Matt Wichlinski , who’s awesome. We’ll train for about 3-4 hours, a lot of it half the time is all cardio work because you have to be in-ring fit, you know? They will give us drills and then we’ll start learning how to wrestle, which is awesome.
Then there’s a thing called “the mirror” where you go in and create a promo and then you do it by yourself in front of the camera so you can point out “Okay. That’s not very good” or you can get the coaches to watch it back and go “What do you think?” and then they’ll help you and you go in there and do it again.
Then there are usually promo days, which Dusty Rhodes, bless him, used to run, which is where we all do promos in front of each other. That’s basically a day.
I mean if anyone is sore they have a doctor as well, which they will go to and get stretched out and get worked on and we have like those baths where there’s ice baths, heat baths, and stuff like that so you can recover. It’s a long day, a long process but it’s fun and awesome.
CraveOnline: How did your catchphrase “This is my house” come to stick? Was that your intention?
Paige: I never planned on it but when I debuted, AJ [Lee] did this promo to me and she said to me, “this is my house.” She was away for a couple of months and when she came back we had this storyline together a “frenemies” thing and then I actually turned on her and I interrupted and said to her, “No. This is my house now.” I just continued saying it after that. “This is my house. This is my house” [laughs] but everyone is like “Are you like homeless and trying to prove that you have a home or something?
That’s how I got it so thank you AJ for accidentally giving me that.
Tough Enough
CraveOnline: Let’s talk about Tough Enough where you’re the judge that seems to be hard on everyone. Was Simon Cowell the inspiration for that?
Paige: I would say that even though I am very hard on people, it’s in a good way. It comes from a good place. I’m not just saying, “You’re crap.” With the whole Sarah Lee situation, she wasn’t coming out of her shell and the way I came out of my shell is my parents would get on to me until I would finally just explode and then I was fine after that.
It’s all coming from a good place but yeah; it’s definitely based on Simon Cowell or also Sharon Osborne as well because I feel like Miz has taken over that role right now. Well, you’re taking the heat off me [laughs]. He makes the dumb decisions. I make smart ones [laughs].
Guilty Pleasures
CraveOnline: You’re on the road a lot so what’s your guilty pleasure food wise?
Paige: Cheesecake and cookies is something I can’t stay away from. My guilty pleasure is just eating really bad food. I cannot help myself but you’re on the road during the night and the only thing open is a fast food place and you’re like “Alright. Not my fault. It’s time to eat.”
CraveOnline: You come from a wrestling family. Do they ever call you and give you any criticism or feedback?
Paige: Yeah. My family is a big supporter of me so they’re really cool about it but wrestling wise, my dad will tell me “You could have done this better or this would have made more sense or try this move” and all that kind of stuff but yeah, I’m constantly getting phone calls about stuff like that. They’re so sweet but Total Divas [laughs], I’m like “I’m so sorry, dad.”
“…we just want to main event.”
CraveOnline: With the Divas Revolution, where do you want this to ultimately end up?
Paige: I just want it to last as long as possible. Right now we love it because we’ll have two matches on a show and then we’ll have two segments of backstage promos so hopefully one day the Divas can main event a RAW, main event a PPV, main event a WrestleMania, which is very far fetched but we just want to main event.
Photos courtesy of WWE
Joshua Caudill is a writer for CraveOnline Sports, a surfing enthusiast, an unhealthy sports fanatic, and an expert on all things Patrick Swayze. You can follow him on Twitter @JoshuaCaudill85 or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
