Last year, we learned that Saraya (better known as Paige in WWE) had signed a new deal with AEW that will see her remain part of the company until at least this September.
Fans were surprised Triple H didn't pull out all the stops to bring her back into the fold given their history in NXT. Still, seeing how much Tony Khan is supposedly willing to pay talent, there's a good chance WWE was simply unwilling to match what the son of billionaire Shahid Khan was willing to offer.
We heard at the time that Saraya's original deal had a clause in it which meant AEW could choose to keep her signed for another year; instead, the decision was made not to invoke that and she's supposedly signed a completely different one-year contract.
Saraya's last big match was at AEW Collision Grand Slam where she was defeated in a "Saraya's Rules Match" by Jamie Hayter. On October 8, she competed on an episode of AEW Dynamite in a 4-way AEW Women’s World Title Eliminator Match against Hayter, Willow Nightingale, and Nyla Rose.
It was in November that the former AEW Women's World Champion announced she was taking a hiatus from pro wrestling. When a fan brought that up on social media - and her decision to wear a WWE Stone Cold Steve Austin t-shirt Saraya wasted no time putting them firmly in their place...
Well said.
Unfortunately, Saraya's in-ring return for AEW has received mixed reviews, largely down to how she's been booked by Khan. Last year, she addressed her critically panned match with Dr. Britt Baker DMD and argued that it was down to ring rust and the fact she got off to a bad start with her first promo.
Since then, she's worked with Jox Moxley and praised him for the role he's played in her improvement on the mic. There's been some definite improvement since then and fans are eager to see her return to AEW's women's division.
"Jon Moxley actually helped me a lot. One of my best friends is Renee [Paquette], [so] I’m friends with the hubby, too. He was one of the catalysts of getting me over to AEW as well. He was on the phone with me and stuff like that,” she explained. “With the promos, since I s*** the bed the first time, I was just like, ‘I just need help I don’t feel confident in myself.’ He was just like, so, that promo with me and Britt [Baker] where I’m being real. I’m talking about real-life stuff."
"Like yeah, I am sober. Yeah, I was a mess. Yes, the world saw my tapes go on the friggin’ internet from when I was 19, just all the struggles that I went through for that year and a half. I was being real. He was telling me I had to be real. He was just like, ‘That’s the perfect promo, stop trying to be a character right now and just speak your truth’ kind of thing. He was helping me with that kind of stuff. He really, really did help me. It made me come out of my shell, and made me feel way more comfortable."
Hopefully, we'll see Saraya back in the squared circle once she's ready to compete again. For now, she appears to be enjoying some well-deserved time off.