Speaking to GiveMeSport, WWE Smackdown general manager Paige talked about her career ending injury that happened at a house show at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island on December 28, 2017. Paige goes in to detail on calling the spot in the match, what happened after the match was over, visiting the doctors in the following days, and defending Sasha Banks against the backlash she was receiving.

In the ring during the match when the spot was called:

“So I called this move and I told her to do it and so she did it, and unfortunately, my neck wasn’t strong enough and it snapped all the way back and it was essentially the same as having a really bad car crash – the whiplash was. My arms start losing the feeling and then I’m like ‘oh my gosh, I can’t feel my arms!’ and I’m trying to grab her [Sasha’s] legs and she’s like ‘you need to stop’ and I’m like ‘no, no, no. Wait, I can stand up, let me do this’ and so I stand up, but then I fall straight back down and I’m like ‘oh my gosh, I can’t feel my body right now, this is crazy’ and I was so petrified I was like ‘I think I’m paralysed’”.

Immediately after the match:

“I remember them bringing out the stretcher and stuff like that and I was like ‘please don’t make me go out on a stretcher, that’s all I’m asking. I don’t wanna go out on a stretcher’. I wanted to walk out gracefully and I just knew I was going to get told I wasn’t going to be able to do this anymore. So I’m finally up and walking and the crowd are cheering – they were so sweet – so I get backstage and Jamie Noble and all the trainers and doctors that we had were checking my reflexes and my body felt fine after that, it was just achey.”

Visiting the doctor the next day:

“So then literally the next day I get flown out to Orlando to see a doctor. The next day after that I got flown out to Dr. Maroon. He felt my neck and he was like ‘You can have another surgery if you want, but you still have to retire, either way’. He was like ‘if you get hit again you’ll be paralysed’ kind of the same as Edge and I already knew that, I was just hoping he would tell me something different.”

Paige defends Sasha from the backlash after the incident:

“Nothing was ever Sasha’s fault. She got so much backlash and even in the ring, when we were in there, people are chanting ‘Sasha sucks’ and it really upset me to hear that because it wasn’t her fault.”