Saraya has come a long way since her AEW debut a year ago at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam. The former WWE star was medically retired for years due to spinal stenosis but was cleared shortly after her arrival in All Elite Wrestling.
Saraya had her first chance at winning AEW gold at Revolution 2023 when she worked a triple threat match against Ruby Soho and then-AEW Women’s Champion Jamie Hayter, who went over to retain her title.
Saraya won the gold at All In last month. Now, she is slated to return to Arthur Ashe Stadium a year after making her arrival.
While speaking with Metro.co.uk, Saraya noted she knew she would eventually turn heel as the fans would turn on her, something that happened.
“I always wanted to be a heel, even before [AEW] knew I was gonna be wrestling again. I always wanted to be a bad guy. Because I already knew it wasn’t going to be long until they turned on me. I knew that. I said that – having conversations before I came to AEW, I was speaking to Jon Moxley, I was speaking to [Chris] Jericho, I was speaking to Tony Khan.”
Saraya recalled being frustrated with people telling her that she would be a babyface because the fans would simply be happy to see her.
“They were all telling me, ‘You’re gonna be a babyface first because people are just gonna be happy to see you.’ It was really frustrating. What I kept doing is I kept throwing in heelish things in promos or how I acted, things like that. I wanted that slow burn anyway and then eventually I was gonna get the opportunity to turn heel – I just had to wait a little bit. It worked out!”
On tonight’s Dynamite: Grand Slam, Saraya will defend the Women’s World Title against Toni Storm.
