Fighting With My Family True Story: What The WWE Paige Movie Changed

Fighting With My Family is based on the true story of WWE's Paige and her journey to the top of professional wrestling, but Stephen Merchant's film still changed several key things. Written and directed by Merchant, the film stars Florence Pugh (The Little Drummer Girl) as Saraya Knight/Paige, Jack Lowden (Dunkirk) as her older brother Zak, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson playing himself.

Dwayne Johnson spearheaded production of Fighting With My Family after he saw the 2012 UK documentary about the Knight Family called The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family. Stephen Merchant was not a wrestling fan before he began this project but became one after attending WWE shows and spending days with the Knight family at their wrestling shows in Norwich, England. Merchant also sent Florence Pugh and Jack Lowden to train as wrestlers at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. While the actors perform some of their own stunts, Tessa Blanchard, a pro-wrestler and the daughter of wrestling legend Tully Blanchard, was the stuntwoman who performed Paige's more challenging wrestling moves.

The best film about professional wrestling since Darren Aronofsky's Oscar-nominated The Wrestler, Fighting With My Family should please WWE fans and non-fans alike with its entertaining rags-to-riches tale. Merchant strived to be as authentic to Paige's story as possible, but he made many creative decisions in order to clarify her WWE journey and to benefit the film's narrative. Here's what Fighting With My Family changed from Paige's real-life story.

This Page: Paige's Real Life & How The Film Changed Her NXT Career
Page 2: The True Story Of The People Paige Met In Fighting With My Family
Page 3: Changes To Paige's WWE Debut & What Happened After The Movie Ends

Paige's Real Family And Wrestling Background

Fighting With My Family is set between 2011 and 2014, and is overall quite accurate with its portrayal of the real-life Knight family. Paige (real name Saraya-Jade Bevis) was born into a family of professional wrestlers. Her father "Rowdy" Ricky Knight (Nick Frost, who sports a beard the real Ricky didn't have in 2011) is the founder and promoter of Norwich, UK-based World Association of Wrestling (WAW) along with his wife "Sweet" Saraya Knight (Lena Headey), a renowned female wrestler. Their eldest son is Roy Knight (James Burrows), who wrestles as Zebra Kid; Roy is Ricky's son from a previous relationship and is the half-brother of the siblings Zak, who wrestles as Zak Zodiac, and Saraya, the only daughter, who wrestled as Britani Knight in WAW before becoming Paige in WWE. It was the entire family's dream that both Zak and Saraya would make it to WWE.

The film portrays Roy as being in prison after he failed his own WWE tryout; in real-life Roy was not incarcerated and actively wrestled along with the rest of family. Merchant wrote Roy out of much of the film in order to emphasize the relationship and conflict between Zak and Saraya. Otherwise, Fighting With My Family has fun portraying the low-budget world of independent British wrestling where WAW puts on shows in convention centers and halls in front of dozens of paying customers.

In real-life, Britani was the biggest draw and top star of the family, especially once word got out she signed with WWE. In addition to WAW, the Knights also wrestled and won championships in many countries, including the United States, with Britani and her mom "Sweet" Saraya becoming tag team champions in the U.S.-based, all-female SHIMMER promotion in 2011 before Britani left for WWE. Zak was the male star of the family who also booked matches behind the scenes, and he did run the training school and taught at-risk teens how to wrestle. Amazingly, Fighting With My Family's portrayal of Zak teaching a blind teenage boy to wrestle is also true; the real Zak did impressively develop a system to teach a blind kid how to move in the ring and to wrestle by using sound and touch.

Saraya passed her WWE tryout at the O2 Arena in London in April 2011 and received her contract in September 2011, a longer time than in the movie. While the film depicts Saraya and Zak getting their tryout (and meeting The Rock) at Smackdown Live; in reality, WWE wouldn't rebrand Smackdown as a live show until 2016. When he failed his tryout, Zak was told by WWE to add "two stone" (about 28 pounds) of muscle and try out again, but he injured his knee in the interim and still wasn't picked. Though he never received a WWE contract, Zak has wrestled for WWE as enhancement talent; he has appeared on WWE television during their UK tours and he continues to wrestle in and promote WAW shows.

How NXT/WWE Works And How The Movie Changed Paige's NXT Career

Fighting With My Family changes and simplifies many aspects of Paige's career in NXT, mainly to smoothen the story for general audiences. In reality, Paige did not go to NXT when she signed with WWE; in 2011, WWE's developmental territory was called Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). This was where Saraya trained and received her new ring name, Paige; according to the film, she named herself after Rose McGowan's character in Charmed. WWE rebranded FCW as NXT in 2013 and, under the leadership of WWE Executive Vice President Paul "Triple H" Levesque, launched a hugely successful initiative to turn NXT into both a developmental system and a new touring brand for WWE. In addition, WWE opened their state-of-the-art Performance Center in Orlando, Florida in July 2013, which didn't yet exist when Paige arrived in FCW, though the film portrays Saraya training at the WWE PC from the beginning.

Today, most future WWE wrestlers train in and perform for NXT first, often for years, before being called up to the main roster. They not only learn WWE's style of wrestling but also the technical details of how to perform for the TV cameras and the audience at home. The film accurately depicts the type of training wrestlers receive in NXT, including numerous drills, workouts in the ring perfecting moves, and "promo class", where they learn to give live interviews on the microphone. Fighting With My Family's boot camp-style training scenes nod a bit to the fact that before NXT was rebranded as WWE's developmental arm, from 2010-2013, NXT was actually a quasi-reality show for wrestlers hoping to get to the main roster where they would participate in often-humiliating game show-like contests and would be mocked by the announcers. Paige never participated in that version of NXT, but her opponent at the end of the film, A.J. Lee, was a popular contestant before she earned her way to the main WWE roster. Just like in the film, the NXT roster is indeed invited to WrestleMania and watches the show from backstage; some also get to participate in background roles on the show.

Fighting With My Family depicts Paige as uncertain in the ring and on the microphone to dramatize the difficulty of making it in NXT and to portray Paige as an underdog misfit. While she did face challenges like injuries and homesickness, in real-life, Paige was already a polished performer who was hugely popular with the fans and she was an obvious star with surefire WWE main roster potential. Her goth look and unique sex appeal were different from the glamorous WWE Divas of that era and she was billed as "The Anti-Diva". After FCW became NXT, Paige became the first NXT Women's Champion; she defended the title in a highly-praised match against Emma in the first NXT Takeover pay-per-view, NXT Takeover: Arrival, in February 2014. After she won raves for her PPV match, Paige's WWE call-up was assured and happened only two months later.

Page 2 of 3: The True Story Of The People Paige Met In Fighting With My Family

Are The NXT Divas In Fighting With My Family Based On Real Wrestlers?

In Fighting With My Family, Paige meets three women who are also NXT trainees: Kirsten (Aqueela Zol), Jeri-Lynn (Kim Matula), and Maddison (Ellie Gonsalves). These characters are not based on actual wrestlers in NXT or WWE but are amalgams of the type of women WWE was hiring at the time. From Paige's arrival in 2011 up to 2015, WWE was still promoting their WWE Divas brand and training models, ex-cheerleaders, and actresses to become wrestlers - mainly to provide sex appeal for their shows. However, once they start wrestling, the ring gear Kirsten, Jeri-Lynn, and Maddison wear resemble the outfits worn by former WWE Divas Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, and the original cheerleader outfit worn by Alexa Bliss when she was a babyface (good guy) in NXT.

Fighting With My Family plays with the fact that in real life, the inexperienced women training in WWE sometimes felt bullied by Paige, who came from a pro-wrestling background and was lightyears ahead of them in terms of in-ring work. The film depicts the dichotomy between the "actual" female pro-wrestlers hired by WWE and the "wannabe" models who many felt were only in WWE for the glitz, glamour, and money instead of love for professional wrestling. Ironically, once she joined the main WWE roster, Paige became a reality TV star when she joined the cast of E!'s Total Divas. The youngest and most irreverent of the cast, Paige became popular with non-wrestling fans and she raised the ratings of the hit reality series during her seasons.

Who Is Vince Vaughn's NXT Trainer Hutch Morgan Based On?

Vince Vaughn's character Hutch Morgan isn't based on an actual person but, like the female NXT Divas in the film, he is an amalgam of several of Paige's real-life trainers and mentors. These include Sara D'Amato, who wrestled as Sara Del Ray and is NXT's acclaimed first-ever female trailer, Bill DeMott, who wrestled as Hugh Morrus and was FCW/NXT's head trainer from 2012-2015, and the late WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, who was a beloved mentor to the NXT trainees before his death in 2015.

In addition, Hutch tells Paige a metaphorical story about a wrestler who chased his WWE dream but never quite made it and ended up wrecking his personal life in the process; Hutch was describing his own failed WWE career but it included a bit about "falling from the top of a 30-foot steel cage". This is a nod to WWE legend Mick Foley, the beloved former WWE Champion-turned-best-selling author and stand-up comedian, who infamously fell of the roof of the 30-foot Hell in a Cell cage (twice) in a match against the Undertaker at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1998.

Did The Rock Really Mentor Paige?

Just as Fighting With My Family depicted, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson really did take Paige aside backstage at WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans. The Rock told Paige the good news that she would debut on the main WWE roster the next night on Monday Night RAW, she'd be winning the Divas Championship, and that he was planning to make a movie about her life.

At this point in 2014, The Rock had completed his WWE comeback after working on his Hollywood film career from 2004-2011. The Rock's return included a Dream Match against John Cena at WrestleMania 28 in 2012, a reign as WWE Champion, and a subsequent rematch with Cena at WrestleMania 29. The Rock would mainly appear at WrestleMania from then on, and he was a special "host" of WrestleMania 30 when he broke the good news to Paige.

Dwayne Johnson had known about Paige and the Knight family ever since he saw the documentary about them on Channel 4 while he was in London filming Fast & Furious 6 in 2012. Since he also comes from a family of pro-wrestlers, Johnson took a special interest in Paige and would check up on her from time-to-time after she signed with WWE. However, the hilarious scene in Fighting With My Family where Zak and Saraya met The Rock backstage before their WWE tryout and he cut one of his classic promos on them is likely fictional.

Page 3 of 3: Changes To Paige's WWE Debut & What Happened After The Movie Ends

How Fighting With My Family Changed Paige's WWE Debut

Fighting With My Family made some significant changes to - but also improved aspects of - Paige's WWE debut match. Paige made her main roster debut on April 7, 2014, in New Orleans in an "impromptu match" against WWE Divas Champion A.J. Lee. In the real-life match, Paige was the reigning NXT Women's Champion and was acknowledged as such by the announcers, though she came to the ring without the NXT Title belt. The match with A.J. lasted roughly 120 seconds where Paige reversed Lee's "Black Widow" submission hold, hit her finisher, the "Paige Turner", and pinned Lee to win the Divas Championship. At 21 years old, Paige was the youngest-ever Divas Champion and the first woman to be NXT Women's Champion and WWE Divas Champion simultaneously. However, in Merchant's film, Paige was never NXT Women's Champion as the director felt it would lessen the impact of her winning WWE's biggest prize if she already had a belt of her own.

In the film, Paige comes to the ring wearing different ring gear (as does A.J. Lee, who is pitch-perfectly played by Thea Trinidad, a.k.a. Zelina Vega in WWE). Missing from the film is Tamina Snuka, the daughter of WWE legend "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, who was Lee's bodyguard at the time - the film cut Snuka to eliminate having to explain why A.J. Lee had a bodyguard to begin with. The storyline reason for the match was the same in the film as it was in real-life: Lee had just defeated 13 women at WrestleMania and was boasting that she was unbeatable; but in the film, Paige came out to outright challenge A.J. whereas the storyline in the actual match was Paige coming out to "congratulate" the champion. Either way, A.J. puts her championship on the line to make an example out of the young NXT upstart. The film also plays it so that the audience doesn't seem to know who Paige is whereas the real WWE audience at RAW that night knew exactly who Paige was and were thrilled to see her debut.

Stephen Merchant's creative choices actually made Fighting With My Family's A.J. vs. Paige match better, both narratively and in terms of action. To add drama, he made the match longer and a more even, back-and-forth affair. The actual match was entirely one-sided; Lee took advantage of Paige being "unprepared" and dominated her, trying to win the match early with her submission hold finisher. Merchant made the match more exciting by adding more offensive maneuvers: Paige hit A.J. with a fallaway slam while the champion rocked the challenger with a superplex off the top rope. The finish of the match was the same, but the film improves upon real-life by having Paige properly execute the Paige Turner to pin the champion, whereas the real Paige and A.J. infamously botched the finishing move. Fighting With My Family makes no bones about the scripted nature of pro-wrestling, but the finale match builds tension by making it seem like Paige didn't know she would win; in actuality, the real wrestlers knew by the time RAW started that the title was switching owners.

After she won in real-life, Paige immediately took the butterfly-shaped Divas Championship and posed with it on the rampway, in total shock at her accomplishment, while Tamina and A.J. were upset in the ring. Instead, Merchant gives Paige her Rocky moment by having her cut a victorious promo with the championship in the ring, which pays off her earlier difficulty cutting promos during her NXT training. Paige ends the film by proclaiming "This is my house now!"; the real Paige made "This Is My House" her catchphrase because A.J. mocked her by saying it before their impromptu match. "This Is My House" signified the passing of the torch to Paige becoming the star of the WWE Divas division and it became her T-shirt's slogan too.

What Happened Next To Paige In WWE

After only 3 years on the main WWE roster, Paige was forced to retire in December 2017 due to a serious neck injury, the result of taking bumps in the ring since she was 13-years-old (Paige suffers from scoliosis, a fact she was unaware of until after she signed with WWE). After the film ends, the real Paige and A.J. Lee feuded over the WWE Divas Championship throughout 2014 (Paige also won the title a second time). A.J. and Paige later become allies and teamed to defeat the Bella Twins at WrestleMania 31. After A.J. Lee retired from WWE in 2015, Paige went on to become a major player in the WWE Women's Revolution; in summer 2015, WWE called up several of the top NXT female wrestlers to bolster their Women's Division, and Paige formed a faction called Team PCB with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. Because of her years of experience, Paige also became the youngest judge on WWE Tough Enough, a reality series searching for the next WWE Superstars.

However, in August 2016, Paige was suspended for 30 days for violating WWE's Wellness Policy, which was followed by a 60-day suspension after she failed it a second time. Paige was gone from WWE from August 2016 to November 2017; during that time, she underwent neck surgery and had a tumultuous engagement with former WWE wrestler Alberto Del Rio. Unfortunately, numerous X-rated private videos Paige made with her then-boyfriend Brad Maddox when she was younger were stolen and published on the Internet. After overcoming that embarrassment, Paige made her return to WWE on Monday Night RAW, this time leading a new group called Absolution made up of herself and NXT upstarts Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, whom she mentored on Tough Enough.

Tragically, Paige suffered a freak accident during a non-televised match on December 27, 2017, only a few weeks into her comeback. WWE's doctors forbade her to wrestle again or else she risks paralysis. On April 9, 2018, Paige formally retired from in-ring competition on the RAW after WrestleMania 34, fittingly in the same New Orleans arena where she debuted and beat A.J. Lee to become Divas Champion four years prior. Afterward, Paige became the hugely popular General Manager of Smackdown Live; this time, Paige made matches and ran the show in-storyline until a change in creative direction ended her tenure as GM in December 2o18.

Even though her wrestling career was sadly cut short, Paige can proudly claim to have elevated the quality of women's wrestling in WWE and was a bridge from the Divas era to the current revolution of the Women's Division, which she helped start. Today, Paige remains a vital part of WWE and she is currently on hiatus promoting Fighting With My Family. At only 26, Paige has literally done it all in wrestling and she awaits whatever new role WWE has for her.