Saraya is gone from AEW.
2025 is the year of departures in AEW. We’re only three months into 2025 and Miro, Malakai Black, Ricky Starks, Maria, Leyla Hirsch, Zak Knight, and Rey Fenix are gone. The former AEW Women’s World Champion joins the list, which shouldn’t particularly be a surprise to anyone who’s paid attention to the last year or so of Saraya’s career.
The now former AEW star confirmed the news of her departure on her brand new podcast, "Rulebreakers With Saraya." Entertainment Weekly was the first to reveal the exclusive news through their channel.
"I'm here to tell you that me and AEW's relationship has come to an end," Saraya says in the first episode. "I had an amazing time there. There's no bad blood between us. I had such a magical time."
The 32-year-old further went into detail about her decision on Busted Open Radio about opting to leave AEW. Saraya never says anything bad about the company or Tony Khan, but the former AEW star didn’t feel that she fit in with the current roster.
"When it came into AEW, the thing that I wanted to do was just to...help build stuff," Saraya said. "I didn't want to be the top dog or the face or anything. That wasn't my...that's not 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. And I feel like I was coming to the end of that. There wasn't very much left I could do. I don't think there was a place for me anymore in there."
There’s no love loss between her and Tony Khan as Saraya noted that the separation was amicable.
"He was really great," Saraya said. "He was like...he's been so supportive since I asked for time off in November. I've been gone for a minute. And I was just like 'Well, there's really no place for me anymore.' So yeah, we came to that decision, and I'm happy about it. And he wished me luck and everything, and the door is always open. But yeah, it's nice to just...it's scary, but I'm taking...I'm exploring everything else outside of wrestling."
The former AEW Women’s World Champion has teased making a WWE return and though she never confirms that’s her plans, it would be shocking if Saraya never went back. Nevertheless, Saraya’s run in AEW was full of missed opportunities.
She’s had great moments here and there, but she was never really given much of a chance to make a huge impact like she did in WWE/NXT. It’s a shame too as there’s still plenty of dream matches that Saraya didn’t get to have, but it’s clear from both sides that this was the best option possible.