Saraya made her debut for AEW Dynamite during the Grand Slam special episode in New York on September 21st, 2022. A month later on the same show she got involved in a brawl with Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., and thereby confirmed that she was allowed to get into a fight. This was the first time the former WWE Superstar got physical in a wrestling ring since retiring in December 207.
Saraya making limited appearances in action for AEW
Since that career-ending neck injury in WWE, Saraya came back to action at AEW Full Gear where she defeated Britt Baker in her first wrestling match since 2017. Moving on, she announced wrestling for one time in a month so that her previously numb neck can cope with the physicality. Last night on AEW Dynamite, she was featured in a huge tag team match.
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For a long time now, Mercedes Moné fka Sasha Banks was rumored to be the tag team partner of Saraya for this tag team match on AEW Dynamite’s return to the Los Angele market. However, she wasn’t there and a lot of fans on social media as well as in attendance at the show were left in a disappointed state. Subsequently, “No Mercedes” and “Mercedes Moné” started trending on Twitter.
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Fans unhappy over Sasha Banks not arriving on AEW Dynamite
Most of the fans were clearly not happy to see the outcome of the Saraya & Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter & Dr. Britt Baker match on AEW Dynamite. Storm was previously announced to be Saraya’s tag partner ahead of time but fans were still hopeful of some kind of swerve so that Mercedes could be brought in as a last-minute replacement, especially after AEW teased tensions between Hikaru Shida and Storm.
Hikaru Shida cost the match for Saraya on Dynamite
Saraya snubbed Shida while picking Storm as her partner. Shida did make her presence felt during the match but she threw a kendo stick into the ring that Baker used to knock out Storm that allowed Hayter to secure the pinfall victory in favor of her team on AEW Dynamite. Shida later claimed that she threw the kendo stick for Saraya’s team. However, the chance of seeing a heel turn isn’t wiped out.
#TheKillerAndThePillar #AEW Women's World Champion @jmehytr and Dr. @realbrittbaker D.M.D pick up the victory and @shidahikaru is shocked, as her strategy seemingly did not go as planned!
Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! pic.twitter.com/WAJXfeTXFJ— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) January 12, 2023
Chances of seeing the former Sasha Banks in the AEW seemed very much strong after she made her NJPW/STARDOM debut earlier this month during the Wrestle Kingdom 17 event. However, the fact that she will be making a limited appearance only might be a constraint in signing a future deal with AEW.
