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Folk's it's official: Saraya is in AEW, and she's looking to wrestle.
That's right, after Britt Baker no-showed her appearance on a joint interview with the newest member of the AEW commentary team, Renee Paquette, the duo finally met in the ring on AEW Dynamite to air out their grievances before the promotion's final Pay-Per-View of the year, Full Gear. Baker began, suggesting that AEW wasn't taking walk-ins and that if Saraya wanted to roll through, she'd need to “make an appointment.” While the delivery of this particular line drew some negative reactions from fans online, as it was admittedly a little strange, what wasn't strange was how the performer formerly known as Paige reacted to it, all the while revealing her in-ring status moving forward.
“I’ve given my career and my neck for this business, you don’t have a clue what it takes to make it,” Saraya told Baker. “But here you go Britt, here’s another opportunity handed to you on a silver platter; this is gonna be my comeback story, and this is gonna be the biggest match of your career. It’s gonna be you versus me at Full Gear.”
Welp, there you go; not only is Saraya going to be giving Baker a hard time outside of the ring as a savvy babyface who's always one step ahead of her opponent, but she's going to be working a match against her too. After months of intrigue surrounding the status of Saraya's neck, this is certainly a pleasant development for one of the most important female performers in recent memory. And the best part? This is only the beginning for Saraya, as she detailed to Paquette on her The Sessions podcast.
Saraya is ready to do-it-all in AEW.
After declaring that she is fully cleared to return to the ring, Saraya explained what she has in mind for her future in-ring efforts as a member of the AEW Galaxy, as transcribed by Fightful.
“At first it’s more of a comeback story, an official comeback and being in a different mindset of what I felt like I should have done the first time I came back,” Saraya said. “There are plenty of women that I want to have matches with eventually. I do want to do the stipulation matches that I didn’t get to do in WWE that the girls get to do now. Also, working more character work, try and build…I’m not going to completely let go of Paige, but a more elevated version of her. There are so many things we can do now. We have such creative freedom.”
“I have to rebuild a character and I’m not 100% sure what she’s going to do and where she’s going to go,” Saraya said. “I know the idea she wants, but in WWE, I knew my character, I knew Paige, I had been doing her for years. Getting people writing scripts, you can switch and change whatever. Now, who is Saraya? I have to start from the beginning again, at 30! It’s f*cking wild.”
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Yes, Saraya is somehow only 30 despite being old enough to have a feature film made about her wrestling career. If she's cleared to go, she could conceivably have a very long and fruitful career ahead of her.
What a surreal night it was last night! @Saraya announcing she’s 100% cleared for in ring competition! I sat down with Raya to talk about her comeback and her journey to getting healthy. One of the first people she told the good news to? @MercedesVarnado ❤️⚡️ listen now! pic.twitter.com/aO1k8QhcWm
— Renee Paquette (@ReneePaquette) November 10, 2022
Saraya contacted Sasha Banks after getting cleared to wrestle.
After suffering a neck injury in a bout with Sasha Banks that seemingly cost her her career half a decade ago, when Saraya was cleared to wrestle one more, one of the first people she reached out to was “The Boss,” as she also detailed to Paquette, as transcribed by 411 Mania.
“The first person I text as well was Mercedes, Sasha (Banks),” Saraya said. “So I text her, she was one of the first people I text. Because, I’m like…all that stuff, that can mentally fuck someone up, to like end someone’s career. It’s an accident, it happens in wrestling. That’s what we sign up for. But I told her, ‘Hey sis, I just want to let you know, since the whole thing was tough on you mentally, but my doctor cleared me and told me my neck is 100% ready to go. I haven’t told anyone else, but I know this will make you feel good. I’m back, haha.’ And she was like, ‘I’m so happy.’ She was over the moon. I said to her, ‘I don’t want you to feel bad anymore.’ My neck healed in record time, it was five years, and I’m officially back. I think that’s pretty f*cking inspiring.”
Will Banks and Saraya ever share the ring together once more? Only time will tell, but even if they don't, it's clear there's no ill will between the two women.
