Former AEW star Saraya spoke to Chris Van Vliet recently where she was asked about her recent departure from AEW and about the possibility of rejoining WWE where she wrestled as Paige. Below are highlights from the interview:
On leaving AEW
"It got to a point, I loved my time there, I really did, but there was nothing really much for me to do. When I was there, all I wanted to do was help elevate the division. So I'm like, 'I'll eat a pin here and there, I'll do it, whatever someone needs.' I don't think there was much room for me there. You have big stars there, and I just decided that this is probably the perfect time for me to take a step back, because the only thing left for me to do there would be to wrestle Mercedes. But she already had stuff lined up all the way up until All In that they're about to do. So I was like, What am I gonna do, stay at home? It's nice to collect a paycheck sometimes, sure, but I'd rather be active and doing something I'm really enjoying. That's why I wanted to do the podcast, my book came out, all that kind of fun stuff, so I can put all my energy into that, rather than being like, well, when am I going to be on TV next? I don't want to have to stress about that. So it was just easier, and Tony was great. He was agreeing too. He's like, okay, yeah, let's do it. So it was a very nice split, and great business, which is wonderful. And like I said before, the door is always open for these places, which is really nice. I leave on really good terms. But yeah, I feel like my time came to an end, what else do I do?"
On her current status in wrestling
"I’m a free agent now. I could pop up anywhere. No, my contract's done, done. That's one thing that helped is because they gave me the opportunity to walk away from this contract. Not a lot of companies or businesses would do that, but Tony was really, really great about it. So I was like you can keep paying me, or I can just take a hike."
On if she has a non-compete clause in effect
"No, Tony was great. It was a clean split."
Whether she would want to return to WWE as Saraya or Paige
"Paige, 100%. I miss Paige so much. I tell people all the time. So again, when I went to AEW, I didn't want to be close to my character in WWE because of the comparisons. I was like, Okay. And then I ended up being like a chicken sh*t heel with AEW, which is all fun and good, but there's a ceiling to that. Whereas Paige, I mean, she's generational. I love her. She's bad ass, tough as nails, just screaming all the time. I loved being her. She was a f*cking badass, and that felt more like an elevated version of myself, rather than doing what I was doing in AEW. But again, that was my decision to be like that. But then I was like, Damn I wish I leaned more into my original character, but it is what it is. You live, you learn."
On possibly appearing at WWE Evolution this weekend
"It's like a bittersweet thing, because the first one, I couldn't be on it because of my neck. So if I had the opportunity to be on this all-female pay-per-view, of course, yeah, I would think about it."
