Saraya has opened up about losing her passion for professional wrestling during her time in All Elite Wrestling. The former AEW Women’s World Champion, who was with the company from 2022 until early 2025, revealed that while she enjoyed her tenure, certain creative aspects left her feeling unfulfilled.
Speaking on Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Wrestling with Freddie podcast, Saraya admitted that she “fell out of love” with the industry for a brief period. She cited dissatisfaction with her on-screen character as a contributing factor to her unhappiness.
“I’m taking wrestling so seriously. I lost my passion for it for a second. I kind of fell out of love with it, and it was kind of making me miserable at one point,” Saraya said. “I feel like the company I was in — I loved being in AEW. I had so much fun. But, the character I was doing, I wasn’t too happy with, and I wish I could have done certain matches and certain things, and it didn’t come to be, and it’s fine.”
‘Better Than You’ve Ever Seen Me’
Despite the burnout she experienced, Saraya is now motivated to return to the ring in the best shape of her life. She expressed a desire to recapture the magic of her “Paige” persona from her NXT days, but at an even higher level.
“But, yeah, I just kind of fell out of love with it and so now, I’m just like, ‘I need to start training again. I need to get my ass back into shape. I need to be the Paige that I was in NXT but better,’” Saraya stated. “I can do it at 33 still. I still got it.”
She also clarified that her recent return to training was not specifically for the Royal Rumble, but rather part of a long-term plan to get back into fighting shape.
“I do wanna come back to wrestling, I do wanna start getting in the swing of things again and if I was to come back, I’ll be better than you’ve ever seen me. I can promise you that,” she added.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Wrestling with Freddie with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
