Saraya Reflects on Her First Match in Nearly Five Years at AEW Full Gear

Saraya (fka Paige in WWE) stepped back in the ring and competed in her first wrestling match in nearly five years at AEW Full Gear on Saturday night in Newark. Her match with Dr. Britt Baker clocked in at 12 and a half minutes, ending with her pinning the former AEW Women's World Champion after hitting back-to-back Rampaige DDTs. She then reflected on the match in the post-show scrum, admitting she felt Baker "carried" her to a successful match.

"I got to go home to the UK recently, we did some training there, training with my family is always a plus, that's where I started. I got to go to Santino Bros in California," Saraya said (h/t Fightful). "Jungle Boy offered me his ring but I didn't get to go around there. I will go there and ask him to use his ring. I did a lot of training. I didn't try to do 100% bumping around until I knew my neck was okay and then it was an everyday thing. I even had a signing and I had to cancel it because I had to focus on this. I was 100% in on this. It did take a lot and I know I am rusty. It's been five years and I tried to give 110% and I felt like I did that, I gave as much as I could. Working with Britt, she's a star, an absolute star. She helped me a lot. Long story short, I worked out a lot and I'm going to continue to do so.

"Britt was the first-ever signee here, she has built this division so I totally understand that," she added. "I was an outsider coming in, but it was more between me and Britt. It was such a special moment for us two. I'm stepping out of character a little bit here, but I feel with Britt, she really carried me throughout this whole thing. Truly, she's an absolute pro. I was rusty when I did the promos and stuff like that. I felt we delivered a really good in-ring promo and the next week she did this beautiful babyface promo, 'Oh man, this is going to be tough.' With me and her, there's no real heel or face, you just cheer for who you want to cheer for. You either cheer for the homegrown talent or you cheer for the girl who comes back from a career-ending injury."

Baker wound up playing a major role later in the night, assisting Jamie Hayter in beating Toni Storm for the Interim AEW Women's World Championship from Toni Storm. Stay tuned for full coverage of the fallout from Full Gear!