Regardless if she had been cleared to return to the ring, there was always going to be a place for Saraya in All Elite Wrestling.
Saraya recently sat down with Chris Mueller of Bleacher Report to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about what her backup plans were in All Elite Wrestling if she wasn’t able to get cleared to get return to the ring, Saraya said she was always going to have a place in the company, even if it was just as a manager or a General Manager role, but she’s happy that she was able to wrestle instead.
“I was always going to have a place, whether it be behind the scenes or even kind of like a GM role or a manager,” Saraya said. “They were always going to find a position for me there.
“But straight out the gate, I said to Tony, ‘I want to be able to wrestle.’ And he was just like, ‘Well, maybe we can do it where it’s just tag matches. Once you get cleared.’ I said, ‘Nope, I want to have a singles match. That’s what I want.’ And he said, “OK, well if you get 100 percent clear, then absolutely fine.’ So, then it was Dr. Sampson.
“That’s another thing that people kind of decided they were going to have an opinion on [via] the internet. They thought it was all AEW doctors who cleared me, and it wasn’t. They actually didn’t want to clear me until they had a full rundown from an outside doctor. Just to see everyone’s opinions on it. And luckily, everyone’s opinions were the same. And my neck was 100 percent ready to go.”
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Saraya upon her arrival in All Elite Wrestling, as her first promo wasn’t one of her best. But Saraya is her own worst critic and knew the promo didn’t work and was thankful for the redemption she had going back and forth with Britt Baker a couple of weeks later.
“I was very rusty at the beginning with my promos, and I f–king hate that first promo I did,” Saraya said. “And luckily, we had redemption, and me and Britt said, ‘OK, we need to make this promo like really good for people to really sink their teeth into the storyline.’
“And we’ve been working with [Jon] Moxley a lot. He was very hands-on with it. And Renee Paquette. A lot of people don’t realize how creative she is. She was helping with this promo, so mum and dad were helping out, I like to call them.
“I was so scared. You have no idea. I’ve never been this terrified walking into a new company, to then doing this first promo. And that was the most terrifying experience of my life. I was thinking, ‘Did I make a mistake coming back to wrestling like this? Does the wrestling world hate me now?’ The week after, we started getting in the swing of things.”
The former Paige returned to the ring after five years at AEW Full Gear and defeated former AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker in her first match back. Saraya went out of her way to put over how much pressure Baker was under heading into their match.
“I just want to say it because a lot of people don’t realize how much pressure Britt was under to be the first person to wrestle someone who was completely out with a career-ending injury and then coming back again on such a sensitive part of my body,” Saraya said.
“The fact that she took all that pressure and was like, ‘OK, I’ll be the first person. I want to be the first person to wrestle you.’ And she said, ‘We’ll go as fast as you want to go.’ Even afterward I said, ‘I’m so sorry. I was so slow in there.’ And she said, ‘Are you kidding? I had the time of my life.’ And she was; she’s just been very positive, even in my promos.”
READ MORE: Saraya Comments On Trolling People With Her First Bump During AEW Debut Match
What do you make of Saraya’s comments? Are you happy to see her back in the ring after five long years? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
