Saraya took time to contemplate her next moves in professional wrestling upon her departure from WWE on July 7.
The call for Saraya's (fka Paige) release came under the direction of the Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon. However, in the weeks following her exit, a new regime stepped into action, and quickly attempted to reel Saraya back in. Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque admittedly remained "shocked" at McMahon's decision to release her.
"He was like, 'Wait what happened?!'" Saraya revealed to Alistair McGeorge of Metro.
"I was like, 'I dunno, they haven’t renewed my contract'. He was like, 'Oh my gosh! Well I didn’t know that, so I’m sorry!' He was really fantastic."
Upon conversation with Triple H, Saraya was offered a path back into the WWE.
He did give me the opportunity to potentially be a GM again, and give me the opportunity to be like, 'If you ever potentially want to wrestle again, I’ll give you that opportunity too.' He was very open about any ideas that I had.
- Saraya
While she weighed that decision, she received a counteroffer from AEW, allowing her more creative freedom for outside projects, and a chance to be a part of something new.
"'Do I wanna go back to WWE or do I want to go to AEW?'" she recalled thinking. "Seeing Renee [Paquette], she’s one of my best friends, and Mox as well, and [Chris] Jericho, they were all calling me."
Ultimately, the chapter of Paige officially closed, as Saraya made her debut in All Elite Wrestling in September. Two months later, she made her long-awaited in-ring return, defeating Britt Baker at AEW Full Gear.
