At the young age of 23, the WWE Diva known as Paige, has already risen to superstardom. She made her debut about two years ago on the main roster and quickly won over the fans. Paige already has a list of accolades that are Hall of Fame worthy. She is the youngest wrestler ever to win a Divas Championship, and she has won the title twice. This made her one of the most popular Divas of all-time, with a huge fan base to prove it. She has a very impressive social media presence, with 2.9 million Instagram followers and counting. Paige is also a star on the on E!'s Total Divas. If she stays on the path that she has paved for herself, she might just become the greatest women to ever enter the ring.
There is much more to Paige than all the accolades and her followers. Her path to stardom was no cakewalk, as she had to work incredibly hard to get where she is today. Raised by two professional wrestlers, Paige has a real love for wrestling, and is not in it for the fame or money. It is a great feeling knowing that a beloved wrestler has been a lifelong fan of the sport. Being a Champion in NXT, and then multiple times for the WWE, it seems wherever she goes she dominates the media coverage and sometimes crosses over into the mainstream. Being so young, we may just be witnessing one of the greatest wrestling careers unfold right before our very eyes.
Considering Paige is one of the most popular wrestlers in the entire sport, there are bound to be some enthusiastic fans of her. Although you may watched every match, bought every piece of merchandise, or perhaps seen every episode of Total Divas, hopefully you can learn something new about Paige in this list.
Here are 15 things you didn't know about Paige.
15 15. She Owns A Coffee Company
Despite her young age, Paige co-owns a coffee company called The Dark Gypsy. Paige and her partners, Bobby Schubenski and Jim Somers, launched the company recently in September of 2015. The company definitely has some of Paige's gothic style, with coffee flavors such as "Death Before Decaf" and "Better Then Blood". Selling shirts and merchandise, The Dark Gypsy is more than just coffee. You can find more about Paige's company at thedarkgypsy.com.
14 14. Didn't Care For Wrestling Early On
Even though Paige was born into a wrestling family, she didn't warm up to the idea of wrestling until she was about 10 years old. Seeing the physicality and dangers of the sport of wrestling, scared Paige when she was younger. It must be weird for a child to see their parents wrestle against strangers for the entertainment of others. At the age of 10, Paige finally let her older brothers start to train her in wrestling. Her father then opened up a wrestling school when she was 11, where she frequently trained.
13 13. She was Engaged
Whether this was just a storyline played up for Total Divas or if it was legitimate, Paige was engaged to guitarist Kevin Skaff from A Day to Remember. The pair dated from May 2015 to earlier this year. During that time, Skaff proposed to Paige, who initially said yes, but then had second thoughts and decided she wasn't ready for marriage. Once she called the engagement off, the two began to drift apart and eventually broke up. You could hear male fans screaming "YES!" all around the world when that happened.
12 12. Her Real Name
You would think with a wrestling name like Paige, that is probably her birth name. Her actual name is Saraya-Jade Bevis. She is named Saraya because her mother's wrestling name - yes, her mother is a wrestler - was Sweet Saraya. Paige originally used the ring named Saraya, until it was changed when she debuted with Florida Championship Wrestling. We all know how WWE insists on providing names to the performers so they can trademark them.
11 11. She Has Scoliosis
Possibly due to Paige having wrestled from such a young age, she suffers from scoliosis, an abnormal curvature in the spine. Paige was unaware of the condition until after signing with WWE. She said on Stone Cold's WWE Network podcast that her spine looks like a question mark. She doesn't deny that it could cause problems for her later in life, and she feels that she'll eventually have to take better care of her condition. Let's hope it doesn't shorten her career.
10 10. Debuted At 13
In 2005, while Paige was 13, she was asked to step in for a wrestler that didn't show up to her parents' promotion. She debuted with the ring name Britani Knight. Her father said she looked like Brittany Spears, at the time, as she was wearing her hair blonde. However, her first officially recorded match would be one year later. When you think about it, 14 isn't that old either.
At a time when social media was in its infancy, Paige had used snail-mail to send her resume to promoters all over Europe. This resulted in her wrestling in many different countries such as Denmark, Germany, Norway, the United States, and many more. By age 14, Paige had already wrestled in nine different countries. She achieved all of this by herself, which probably explains why she seems like such a seasoned veteran in the WWE.
9 9. Tag Teamed With Her Mom
Paige's first recorded match was with her family's World Association of Wrestling in 2006. What is unusual about Paige's first match, was that her mother was her tag team partner. Not many wrestlers can claim that they got to wrestle with their parent, but Paige can, and she would continue to for a few years after. In fact the two won tag team gold with each other. You wonder if we could ever see Paige bring her mother in for a match in WWE.
8 8. She Was A Bartender and Bouncer at 15
It seems things work a lot differently in England. Paige's parents owned a bar and when they were out on the road, Paige would be put in charge of the bar. Why put a 15-year-old girl in charge? Well, Paige says her brother tended to have a few too many. One day when her parents were at the bar, Paige saw two girls fighting in the bar. She ran over to them, and broke up the fight by putting one in a headlock and sat on the other one. Don't mess with Paige.
7 7. First WWE Tryout Didn't Go Well
After Drew McDonald, a WWE talent scout, saw Paige wrestle in November of 2010, Paige got a chance to tryout for the WWE. At the age of 18, Paige was given a tryout at 02 Arena in London. The WWE was hiring models, and then trying to mold them into wrestlers. To increase her chances of getting a spot on the roster, Paige had dyed her hair, tanned her body, and took out all of her piercings. Her evaluators said that she just wasn't what they were looking for. From that point on Paige made the decision that if she got another chance, she would go as herself.
6 6. Youngest Champion In WWE History
On an episode of Raw, AJ Lee was boasting and celebrating the longest reign in the title's history (at the time). Paige, who was the NXT Women's Champion at the time, made a cameo appearance to congratulate AJ. Being the great heel that she was, AJ did not take kindly to this and slapped Paige in the face. This set the stage for Paige's WWE debut, a Championship match between her and AJ.
After executing her signature move the "Paige Turner", Paige claimed the Divas Championship at only 21. Yes, only 21! What were you doing at 21?
5 5. She Has Been With A Woman
On Total Divas, Paige admitted to once hooking up with another women in her past. When she was asked to elaborate on it by WWE Diva Rosa Mendes, Paige said "Well yes, it’s the 21st century”. This must have sparked some pretty intense interest, because Rosa later kissed Paige on an episode of Total Divas. Wow, that sounds more intriguing than an episode of RAW. Maybe more men should be watching the show.
4 4. She Wanted To Be A Zoologist
Another reason Paige may not have jumped on the wrestling train like the rest of her family, was because she had other aspirations when she was younger. Considering Paige has already accomplished so much as a woman in the WWE, she most likely has no regrets with her career choice. When Paige finally does retire, we might have a head start on knowing what her next career will be outside of the ring. If her career as a zoologist went anything like her career in the WWE, then she would have been the best in the world.
3 3. She Lived With Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Paige's parents owned The World Association of Wrestling in their hometown of Norwich, England. Paige's family had wrestlers who were appearing at their promotion, often spend time with them at their home. One of the more famous wrestlers who lived with Paige, was Jake "The Snake" Roberts. The two are still good friends, often laughing and hanging around backstage during matches.
2 2. She May Not Be Able To Have Kids
Total Divas tends to reveal some shocking facts about the WWE Divas that you wouldn't have known otherwise. On a recent episode, when Rosa Mendes was having her baby shower, Paige explained the reason she seemed so withdrawn was that she may never be able to have babies of her own. When she was 18, she got pregnant, but lost the baby. She then had surgery to remove an adenoid cyst, hence why she may not be able to have kids.
1 1. She Was Subjected To Wrestling...In The Womb!
Yes! Paige's mother, unknowingly of course, wrestled while she was pregnant with little baby Paige. Her mother, Julia Bevis wrestles under the name Sweet Saraya, and at age 44, she is still performing strong! Thankfully, even though Sweet Saraya wrestled while pregnant, Paige turned out to be the Diva we all know and love.
At this young age and with this many accomplishments, no one can predict how far her career may go. However, I think we can safely say that her future accomplishments will be just as impressive.