Ex-WWE Champion Admits They Lost Love For Wrestling In AEW
Former WWE Divas Champion Paige, now known as Saraya, admits that she had lost her love for wrestling in AEW but is slowly finding it again.
After leaving WWE in 2022, The Anti-Diva joined AEW and made her debut at Grand Slam in September of that year. She spent nearly three years with the company before announcing her departure in March 2025.
Why Ex-WWE Star Saraya Lost Her Passion For Wrestling In AEW?
Speaking with Freddie Prinze Jr. on the Wrestling with Freddie podcast, Saraya said that while she enjoyed her time in AEW, she lost her passion for wrestling because she was unhappy with her character and felt she could have done more “matches and things.”
Toward the end of 2025, Saraya revealed that her love for wrestling had returned and that she had begun training again. She officially made her in-ring return on the independent circuit in December 2025.
“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. 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. It’s absolutely fine. That’s what was supposed to happen.”
The WWE Universe expected Paige to make her WWE return at the Royal Rumble. But that didn’t happen. However, Saraya has expressed that she is interested in returning to WWE.
“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 a** back into shape. I need to be the Paige that I was in NXT but better.’ I can do it at 33 still. I still got it.
So I started training in January and I had told people I was gonna start doing that months ago and everyone thought I was just posting it for the Rumble. I was like, ‘No! I’ve been telling you guys. I’m training in January. I’m doing this.’
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.”