Featuring Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Money in the Bank, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and others, 7 p.m. Tuesday, The Broadmoor World Arena, 3185 Venetucci Blvd., $18-$103; 576-2626, ticketswest.com.
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Lady wrestlers, beware. Paige, a former World Wrestling Entertainment diva champion, is ready to bust loose her three signature moves during her upcoming WWE SmackDown match at The Broadmoor World Arena.
There's the Paige Turner, a swinging fireman's carry; her Tap-Out, a submission move where she wraps up the arms and legs of her competitor; and the RamPaige, where she rams her competitor's head into the mat.
The 22-year-old, goth-styled wrestler also has a penchant for licking the cheeks of the ladies she wrestles, much to their chagrin.
"I like to push my limits a little bit. It makes me stand out," she says from a SmackDown tour stop in Austin, Texas. "I like to mess with people. I'm a prankster."
She'll compete alongside Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and many other WWE superstars and divas at Tuesday's event. The show will be taped and air Thursday on Syfy.
At 21, Paige became the youngest WWE diva champion, a victory that came after years of hard work. It was almost inevitable that she would tuck into the world of wrestling. Her parents started the World Association of Wrestling in Norwich, England, in 1994, two years before she was born. Her mother, a wrestler known as Sweet Saraya, competed when she was seven months pregnant with Paige. She didn't know she was pregnant at the time.
"Wrestling saved me from what from teenagers did," Paige says.
"It kept me out of trouble. It kept me off the streets. I didn't really have a childhood, but I wouldn't change it for the world. It stopped people from bullying me."
She started wrestling at 13 and traveled the world to compete. Eventually, the talent scouts at WWE noticed her and invited her to audition. Her first attempt bombed.
"I thought I had to be what I thought was a diva," she says. "I have to be tanned, have lighter hair, take my piercings out, have to wear color. The talent agent said you're not being yourself, and to try again later on."
She went home, changed her hair back to jet black, piled on the black eyeliner, replaced the piercings, pulled on the all-black clothing and let her skin return to its natural pale color.
"Six months later I came back and said I'm going to be myself, this whole anti-diva," Paige says. "I ended up being myself and they said that's exactly what we wanted. We want girls to be different and stand out. Who needs to be normal these days?"
JEN MULSON, THE GAZETTE, 636-0270, JEN.MULSON@GAZETTE.COM
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