Saraya’s AEW debut was one of the truly shocking moments in wrestling, and she would go on to become AEW Women’s World Champion during her time with the company. That time has come to a close for now though, as Saraya revealed she is departing AEW to work on a number of outside projects, including her new podcast and a mystery role in an upcoming project, but she also made a note to say she isn’t done with wrestling. In interviews with Busted Open and B4theBell, Saraya not only revealed the reason why she decided not to re-sign with AEW but also if she would ever return to WWE down the line.
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First, let’s start with her departure from AEW. On Busted Open Saraya was asked why now was the time to step away, and Saraya said that while she enjoyed her time with the company, she felt there wasn’t really a place for her there.
“You know for AEW the thing I wanted to do was help build stuff. I didn’t want to be the top dog or anything, that wasn’t what I wanted. What I wanted to do was put girls over if that helped them in any way, that’s all I wanted to do,” Saraya said. “And I feel like I was coming to the end of that and there wasn’t really much left I could do. I don’t think there was a place for me anymore in there.”
One thing Saraya did mention was the possibility of a match against Mercedes Mone, but it seems the timing of that possible story wasn’t going to work out.
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“I mean there was probably one more thing with Mercedes I could have done, and she was completely up for it, but the only difference is that, she already has these storylines planned and my contract was coming to an end and I wasn’t going to re-sign after September. I was not going to do it. I wanted to take a step outside of wrestling for a little bit,” Saraya said.
Saraya had nothing but good things to say about AEW and Tony Khan, and she said everything was mutual in her departure and that he wished her luck and the door is always open. When asked how she felt about her AEW run as a whole, Saraya noted that despite what the reactions might be to particular storylines or how she was utilized while in AEW, that she was having fun the entire time.
“You know what, I’m really happy that I got the stories that I got because I got to hang with really wonderful women, and I got to have…I got to help Toni in a way right at the beginning and I got to hang with Ruby and I got to be with Harley and I think she’s such a big superstar,” Saraya said. “So even if not everyone was happy with the way, you know, the storylines were or I was portrayed or whatever, I had a great time.”
“I had a great time behind the scenes and I was having fun and you know, again this isn’t the end of my wrestling career or anything like that, but like maybe I’ll do something later on down the line that everyone will be proud of and want to love you know, but I just want people to know I had a good time. At least like if you didn’t love what I was doing that’s perfectly fine, absolutely, like everyone’s allowed to have their opinion and even sometimes maybe I was like oh I wish we could be doing XYZ, but I was having a great time behind the scenes.”
While she will be taking some time away from wrestling to focus on other projects, it didn’t take long for the question of whether or not she will return to WWE at some point to come up. Saraya addressed that possibility during her interview with B4theBell.
“This came up so much at my signing yesterday, and I didn’t realize, like I always have this insecurity I guess where I feel people just don’t give a crap about me, and I have to be reminded of it all the time, I really do,” Saraya said. “But I get so many people wondering if I’m going to go back there, and I don’t know, I don’t know. Maybe if there’s something that comes along and they would want me back there, like maybe who knows. Who knows what the future holds, never say never you know.”
Saraya was asked if she were to return to WWE, would it be as Saraya or Pagie, and the answer was clear. “Paige, Paige. I love Paige,” Saraya said. She then later added, “If I was to go back, Paige in a heartbeat. Same music, Paige, everything.”
Do you want to see Saraya return to WWE? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
