Saraya On What Swayed Her To Sign With AEW Over WWE

Saraya joined AEW in September after nearly a decade in WWE, and now she's preparing to return to the ring after five years in retirement. Fans are still wondering what led to her joining the newer promotion. While appearing on a recent episode of "The Sessions," Saraya explained her decision to Renee Paquette.

Saraya said she was in contact with the previous regime in WWE about returning before her WWE contract expired in July. After Triple H was promoted to Chief Content Officer and EVP of Talent Relations, he was confused as to why she left. Saraya revealed that Triple H was willing to make her WWE schedule easier, but she was offered more freedom in AEW.

"The thing that swayed me was AEW is a new, fresh company, like I could probably benefit from being thrown into a new mix," Saraya said. "Tony [Khan] just offered me so much freedom. WWE, we didn't even get into money. At that point, it was just, 'Maybe we can do this.' It wasn't a definitive 'this is the offer.'"

Khan, the co-owner and CEO of AEW, told Saraya that he wouldn't ask for a percentage of her earnings outside of wrestling, saying that he'll be happy as long as she comes to work. Saraya discussed how depressing it was to have Twitch taken away by WWE during the pandemic, which left her with nothing to do. Her biggest fear about a WWE return was the idea of being stuck in that situation again.

"What if they don't let me do what I want and I get stuck sitting at home again not doing anything?" Saraya said. "I'm 30 now. I want to start building a career outside of wrestling."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Sessions" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.