Saraya, formerly known as Paige, recently debuted on WWE’s rival promotion AEW on Wednesday night’s Dynamite Grand Slam event. Soon after that, it was officially announced by their CEO Tony Khan on twitter that she is indeed #ALLELITE. Because of this development, many fans wondered why Paige left WWE.
Paige was forced to retire in 2017 after a horrific neck injury she suffered at a WWE MSG Live event, at the hands of Sasha Banks, when she mule kicked her in the back of the neck leaving her unable to stand up in the ring. The 25-year-old was later diagnosed to have suffered from spinal stenosis.
But WWE didn’t release her from contract even though she was unable to compete for almost 5 years. However, this year in June they decided not to continue the contract of the out of action star.
WWE did everything they could with Paige after she broke her neck the 2nd time. They gave her a segment for her retirement, made her the GM of SD, made her the manager of Kabuki Warriors, & they put her on TD & WWE Backstage. When all that ended what more could they do but wait? pic.twitter.com/35F68Ogorr
— BodyBitchWWE (@BodyBitchWWE) September 29, 2022
On July 7th she announced that it would be her last day with the company in a Twitter post (now deleted) where she thanked them for all the opportunities, they gave her and for keeping her on the roster despite the neck injury that grounded her for years.
She had been wanting to return for years as she felt okay, but WWE didn’t want to take chances with a neck injury. This year too she had stated on multiple occasions, her desire to make a comeback. However, since her contract didn’t get renewed this year, she was left as a free agent.
Paige left WWE and debuted as Saraya on AEW
On the AEW Dynamite’s special Grand Slam event last Wednesday, Toni Storm defeated Athena, Britt Baker and Serena Deeb in a Fatal 4-way match to retain her interim Women’s World Championship.
After the match, Baker and her allies launched an attack on Toni and Athena. Just before Toni was about to get locked in Baker’s lockjaw submission, Paige (now going by her real name Saraya) appeared and made her way to the ring much to the astonishment of cheering AEW fans.
Saraya (FKA Paige in WWE) makes her AEW debut! pic.twitter.com/CGLuh4ugsp
— Garrett Burroughs (@notorious_gmb) September 22, 2022
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The ring cleared and she exclaimed her famous “This is my house” shout and hugged Toni Storm and Athena.
However, pro wrestling journalist and insider Dave Meltzer still isn’t sure if she is back as a wrestler or a manager because she didn’t get involved in the in-ring action.
