BRITISH WWE superstar Paige has revealed how the movie about her own life – Fighting With My Family, produced by The Rock – helped her begin a new chapter in her life and career.

The film tells the story of Paige’s journey from her family’s Norwich-based wrestling company WAW to the big leagues of NXT and WWE, with Florence Pugh playing the role of Paige.

2 WWE star Paige has explained how the movie on her life helped her bounce back from a 'terrible two years' Credit: WWE

The flick was based on a Channel 4 documentary about Paige’s family – her wrestler and promoter parents, Ricky Knight and Sweet Saraya, and wrestler brothers Zak and Roy Knight – which The Rock decided to turn into a feature film after seeing the doc in a hotel one night.

But Paige was hit with a series of widely-publicised personal problems after film production had begun.

The star was slapped with two drug test suspensions by WWE, was embroiled in a turbulent relationship with Alberto Del Rio, and was the victim of a notorious sex tape leak.

Paige was also put out of action for a year with a neck injury. After returning to action in late 2017, she suffered yet another injury that forced her to retire from active competition.

Speaking exclusively to Sun Sport, Paige said: “The movie was in the process of being made while I was going through those terrible two years.

“I could have lost it completely but I opened my eyes and got out of that bubble quick enough that the movie was still able to be made.

“It was a wonderful feeling to finally get to watch it and put what I’d done before completely in the past and bury it and pretty much start over again.”

Fighting With My Family – which arrives on DVD & Blu-ray on July 1 – was a huge hit with both critics and audiences.

MCMAHON FEEDBACK

While Paige says that WWE superstars continue to congratulate her on the movie, there’s one person whose reaction fans will be most interested to know about – WWE boss Vince McMahon.

Paige said: “I don’t know what Vince’s reaction to it was. But if you get a big hug from Vince McMahon you’re doing well. I saw him last week and he gave me a big hug and said, ‘I’m very happy for you.’

“I don’t know it that’s about the movie or the fact that I’m healthy. I think he probably liked it if he did watch it.”

The film does capture the importance of Paige as a pioneer in the WWE women’s division – arguably the single most important performer in driving forward the much-celebrated “women’s evolution”.

NXT matches against Aussie star Emma set a new standard for WWE women’s wrestling and she won the Divas Championship on her Raw debut against AJ Lee, a match that is recreated for the dramatic finale of Fighting With My Family.

Her career is about to be celebrated with another DVD – Paige: Iconic Matches, a collection of her best in-ring moments, also out July 1 – which also includes the famous AJ Lee match.

KABUKI WARRIORS

Since retiring from in-ring action, Paige has played the role of general manager on SmackDown and is currently managing The Kabuki Warriors tag team – Asuka and Kairi Sane.

After a strong introduction post-WrestleMania, the team have barely featured on television. This comes amid widespread criticism about the creative process of Vince McMahon and WWE.

But Paige says she can rely on McMahon and NXT boss Triple H to resolve any creative frustrations.

And she’s convinced The Kabuki Warriors can be a game changer for the women’s tag division in WWE.

Paige said: “If we don’t get used I get really frustrated because we’re a good tag team and we need to be utilised.

“Sometimes the writers have so much on their plate with everyone else’s storylines, they put things on the backburner. I have to remind them, ‘Ok, but there is a women’s tag team title… I’m like, ‘What the hell dudes? Let’s make something happen.’

2 The British beauty was forced to retire from the ring in April 2018 due to injury Credit: Instagram @realpaigewwe

“It frustrates me but once you actually get to speak with Vince and Hunter about your problems and frustrations, they’re always the first to say, ‘Let’s change this.’

“If you go up to writers it’s like talking to a brick wall sometimes, whereas if you go to Vince and Hunter they’re like, ‘If you have a problem we can change that for you.’

The Kabuki Warriors finally reappeared in a backstage segment two weeks ago. They set up a match against women’s tag champs The IIconics for a special event in Tokyo which took place yesterday. The Kabukis won the match to earn a future title shot.

Speaking before the event, Paige said: “The Kabuki Warriors can be a force to be reckoned with and that was the plan from the beginning... After the match in Tokyo hopefully we’ll get to build towards a pay-per-view, which gives the girls something to look forward to.

“So I’m happy we have a boss that really listens to us.”

Two other superstars that Paige takes pride in watching are Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville.

The duo made their main roster debuts under the leadership of Paige as the three-woman squad of Absolution.

Rose and Deville have continued to perform as a duo since and WWE seemed to be teasing a lesbian storyline between the pair last week on SmackDown. This follows Sonya Deville being front and centre of WWE’s Pride Month celebrations.

Paige said: “I’m so proud of them. I truly adore those girls. I had so much fun with them. Each week they work more and they’re so hungry. What more could you hope for in a wrestler?

“I don’t know creatively where they’re going. I just think they deserve it.”

Though Paige was a pioneer for women’s wrestling in the ring, she doesn’t see herself taking a creative role behind the scenes for the women’s division.

She said: “I have to give the writers some credit where it’s due. They have to deal with a lot, they truly do. I would not want to be in their shoes – I don’t want to be in creative.

“It’s a lot of pressure because you’ve got to make everyone happy all the time. I don’t think I have the patience to deal with everyone screaming at me all the time.”

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But Paige sees herself staying with WWE in some capacity and is looking to pursue acting.

It could be a winner for the former Divas Champion. While playing the SmackDown GM, she developed her mic skills and became one of the most charismatic talkers on the show.

Paige said: “One way or another I’ll always be a part of WWE, whether it’s in front of the camera or behind the camera. I’d love to do a GM role again. I felt like I really found myself in that role. It really pushed me.

“Also, I love acting, I truly really love it. Obviously wrestling always will be my first passion but unfortunately I can’t do that anymore.”

After the popularity of Fighting With My Family, WWE could be looking to make more films about their top superstars’ lives.

Paige has an idea of which real-life stories from the women’s division would make great cinema – Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.

Paige said: “Charlotte truly has an interesting story that no one knows about. She’s been through a lot in her personal life. She was a shy girl. She’s definitely a candidate.

“And Becky – she’s done a lot career wise. She’s gone from the underdog to being one of the biggest things in WWE right now.”

Fighting With My Family is out on digital download, DVD & Blu-ray July 1.

Paige: Iconic Matches is also out on DVD July 1.