WWE bosses mysteriously scrapped bizarre ‘romantic’ storyline between British star and former top champion
WWE legend Paige was once set to star in a truly unlikely romance angle with one of the company’s top stars before the storyline was mysteriously binned.
The multi-time world champion and veteran grappler was one of WWE’s most prominent performers during her 11-year stay.
A former NXT Women’s Champion, she exploded onto the scene in 2014 by being picked to down AJ Lee to win the Divas title on her Raw debut after WrestleMania 30.
She then battled in top storylines for a number of years before a serious injury forced her into an early retirement and a transition into an on-screen character authority role.
Paige would later return to active competition with WWE’s rivals, All Elite Wrestling, ending a five-year exile from the squared circle to battle Britt Baker.
Still wrestling with AEW under her real name, Saraya, the star recently featured in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament in a losing quarter-final effort to Mariah May.
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While her career as an active wrestler continues apace with Tony Khan’s organisation, details have emerged of one near-miss she had with a surprising storyline during her hiatus.
Multi-time former Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin, for years a mainstay in WWE, has revealed he once pitched for him to be romantically involved with the Norfolk native who last year told of her dad's love for talkSPORT.
Benjamin is famed for his physically intense look and feel and incredible in-ring athleticism thanks to his glittering amateur background.
Holding the IC title on three occasions, the United States Championship once and a trio of turns holding tag team gold, he racked up plenty of accomplishments – but very few needing to lean into his acting skills.
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Nonetheless, former WWE boss Vince McMahon saw something of that side in Benjamin he liked, with the grappler telling Metro of the plans for a hook-up between the Gold Standard and the star and Paige following his suggestion.
Such scenes, of course, never did materialise, with Benjamin explaining: “[At the time] I think Paige was the General Manager for SmackDown.
“The idea was, I will start off as kind of her bodyguard, but I think it was it was going to turn romantic and that was all – they were all set to do that, and then it just didn’t happen.â€
The idea of Benjamin portraying an on-screen heartthrob might seem strange to some, but he said McMahon seemed taken with the idea of developing the now 48-year-old’s lighter side.
“At one point, I was going to be Mr. Entertainment,†he went on to add. “Where I’ll be singing.
“I think we kind of teased it once with the Bellas where I was kind of singing Louis Armstrong to them… I remember Vince wanted me to be Mr. Entertainment. That never happened.â€
The regular chopping and changing of storylines and show running orders – often while shows were live on the air – had become a part of life in McMahon’s WWE, but this idea seems to have been one of the more left-field ideas to never make it to television.
Benjamin, having shone as a singles star for the bulk of his WWE career, was part of the successful Hurt Business faction towards the end of his stay with the company.
The group faded from screens after a three-year spell in 2023, with Benjamin released from his contract in September of the same year.
He has returned to the ring on the independent scene in 2024.