There is no denying that it has been a rough year for Paige. She first announced her retirement from the ring earlier this year due to injuries that she has suffered throughout her career, and she was recently relieved of her duties as SmackDown General Manager. Shane McMahon noted on SmackDown this week that Paige will continue to work for WWE in a different role, but he did not specify what role that will be. No confirmation on a new position for the former Divas Champion has been uncovered, but PWInsider speculates that she will become a member of the Kickoff show panels prior to each WWE pay-per-view. Paige was reportedly well liked in the GM role, so expect to see her stick around in an onscreen role in 2019 and beyond.
As reported not too long ago, Raw Superstar Braun Strowman did make an appearance during the tapings for next week’s Christmas Eve edition of Monday Night Raw. Fans noticed that he was no longer wearing a sling, which caused some to speculate that his elbow injury had healed up. However, WrestleVotes says that Strowman is still injured and likely won’t be wrestling for a couple more weeks. Strowman is still being advertised to wrestle Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble in January, but that might end up serving as his first match back from injury. The belief is that Strowman will at least continue to make appearances for the company and on some shows in the meantime.
As we said, Strowman wouldn’t compete. Source says he’s not cleared until the Rumble. https://t.co/4k2z3yrPpA
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) December 17, 2018
With each passing week, there have been reports of Raw and SmackDown declining in the ratings. Record low viewership numbers have been achieved by the company, and WWE has even begun acknowledging these facts on television. Despite this, it has just been announced that the USA Network, the US station that airs both WWE programs is the top rated cable network of 2018. The network even praised WWE programs specifically along with some of their other shows. USA Network also claimed that the Miz & Mrs also became the network’s top unscripted TV debut earlier this year. WWE announced months ago that SmackDown will be moving to Fox in October 2019 while Raw will remain on USA Network as part of a new multi-year deal.