Paige Says Travel Issues Resulted in Her Not Appearing on WWE SmackDown

Former Divas champion Paige was slated to make her return to WWE programming on Friday night's episode of SmackDown on Fox.

However, Paige announced Friday that travel issues prevented her from making an appearance:

Paige's return was initially supposed to occur in front of a crowd at Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit, but the coronavirus pandemic forced WWE to move SmackDown to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, without fans in attendance.

It was announced during Monday's episode of Raw that Paige would appear on the show to address SmackDown women's champion Bayley.

WWE.com noted that Paige would " step up to try and set the SmackDown Women's Champion straight."

While Paige has been serving as an analyst on FS1's WWE Backstage show, she hasn't appeared on an episode of SmackDown or Raw since October when The Kabuki Warriors turned on her and dumped her as their manager.

Paige represented The Kabuki Warriors after her role as SmackDown general manager was dissolved, but the combination didn't work out as well as hoped, and Asuka put an end to it by misting Paige in the face.

As an active wrestler, Paige was a one-time NXT women's champion and two-time Divas champion. She famously beat AJ Lee for the Divas title in her first main roster match in 2014.

After missing a year-and-a-half with a neck injury, Paige returned to action in December 2017, but her return was short-lived, as she re-injured her neck and later announced her in-ring retirement on the Raw following WrestleMania 34.

Although Paige's in-ring career was cut short, she is still a valuable asset to WWE due to her experience and ability to convey her thoughts well on the mic.

The 27-year-old native of England has essentially become a utility player for WWE, and she tends to thrive in whatever role WWE asks her to fill.

Although Paige wasn't able to appear Friday, perhaps the opportunity will lead to her showing up more often on television in the coming weeks and months.