Saturday, November 19 was a date to remember for the pro-wrestling fans especially for the global fans of Saraya (formerly known as Paige in WWE) as she made a triumphant return to in-ring competition. This was her first match in five years after suffering a career-threatening neck injury that forced her to go into retirement just after four years of her main roster debut in WWE.
But instead of dealing with the adverse effects, Saraya opted to fight to rejuvenate her career and eventually found success after making her way to AEW. She wrestled and picked up a win over former Women’s Champion Britt Baker AEW Full Gear pay-per-view. Down the road, she’s expected to wrestle one match per month to get off the ring rust and give her neck to be strengthened to cope with the bumps.
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Saraya remembered the aftermath experience in an interview with TMZ Sports and revealed that she received “a ton of support” from wrestlers in AEW and her former colleagues from WWE,
“I feel like even WWE isn’t going to stop someone from congratulating someone who did something so incredible like that. I mean, that’s an inspiring thing and I just don’t think they would get mad at someone like Bayley or anyone like that.”
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Saraya didn’t want to keep any bad blood with the WWE
Saraya mentioned that she didn’t want any bad blood to be there between her and her former employer in WWE. It was noted that there was never anything negative thinking about WWE while making the decision of leaving the company. It was just that she was hoping for a fresh start and Tony Khan gave her the freedom she had wanted in regard to her character and matches.
Regardless of the decision of leaving WWE, it appears that both companies are rooting for Saraya to continue a healthy wrestling career, moving forward,
“It felt really great to have both sides be so supportive. When I got backstage after the match, everyone was like, ‘Yay!’ Like, coming up and hugging me and just, it felt really incredible, and then my phone being blown up from all the WWE crew too, it was just really, really nice to see.” (quotes courtesy Wrestling INC)
As noted above, Saraya stepped her feet back inside the squared circle for a pro wrestling match for the first time since December 2017 at AEW Full Gear by wrestling Britt Baker. The singles match from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It saw Baker targeting her opponent’s neck throughout the match but the latter ultimately went over by delivering her Ram-Paige finisher.
Prior to that, Saraya hasn’t wrestled since 2017 and she became a free agent in early July after WWE denied her to re-sign in a new contract. AEW made contact with her shortly after her free agency and managed to sign her into a three-year contract. Then on the November 9 edition of Dynamite, the anti-diva gave the good news that he has been 100% medically cleared to wrestle.
