As 2014 draws to a close, Diva Dirt writers have each picked a personal highlight to reminisce on the year gone by.
Note: This isn’t a ranking of 2014’s best moments. These are moments that were personal highlights for each writer.
Jack’s Pick: Paige wins the Divas Title on her birthday
It was August 17th of this past year and an eagerly anticipated Pay-Per-View clash between the present and the future was scheduled to take place. The Queen was sat firmly on her throne whilst a Machiavellian jester was looking to loot the court for a second time.
After several clashes which caught their respective frenemy off guard, champion at the time AJ Lee had already beaten Paige at Battleground, showing she could dance the dance and better Paige without sneaking up on her. Challenger Paige on the other hand was eager to prove that they she able to give her adversary a fair fight, come out on top and rule the WWE Divas Kingdom once again. With Paige also celebrating her 22nd birthday, would the lovably deranged upstart have too much pressure to handle or could she change the tide of the division yet again?
In a match full of top rope drama, ringside shenanigans and killer reversals, Hell in Boots – rocking her sporadic crimson attire – managed to conquer the monarch and capture the championship for a second time. What a birthday present!
The ending sequence saw a confident Paige try and hit the Paige Turner, only for AJ to strike with a genius counter, locking in the Black Widow which left her raven-haired rival in peril. Paige had reversed AJ’s signature submission before, and she managed to do so yet again. This time, she overpowered the champion and brutalised her with a devastating RamPaige for the profoundest of three counts.
In just four short months, Paige had defiantly smashed records to smithereens and screamed like a banshee at the history books. In addition to becoming the first ever NXT Women’s Champion in 2013, Paige became the first Diva to win WWE Divas Championship in her debut match (Gail Kim eat your heart out!), hold both the WWE Divas and NXT Women’s belts, hold them both at the exact same time, became the youngest WWE Divas Champion aged 21 and became the youngest 2x champion aged 22. I have probably missed a record out as Paige has simply broken too many to keep count of. 2014 was the year of Paige and it’ll be a year I’ll never forget.
As for that monumental late-summer event, I will never forget when I watched the match the next morning on my train to work. I sat with obvious glee on my face and even whooped loudly in the packed carriage when Paige got that three count. A history making moment that I totally embarrassed myself over. The personal cherry on top of the cake for me was that I was the only Diva Dirt writer to predict a Paige win. Paige’s cherry was that she made history on her birthday. It doesn’t get any sweeter than that.
What did you think of this moment?
