Saraya Reveals All About AEW Exit

Saraya felt time had run out on her AEW run.

In July 2022, Saraya left WWE after being informed that her contract wouldn’t be renewed. The British star had been with the company since 2011, but hadn’t wrestled since December 2017 after suffering a second serious neck injury.

The former Divas Champion wasn’t out of the spotlight for long and debuted with AEW in September 2022 at Grand Slam. Incredibly, she went on to return to the ring and win the Women’s World Championship, but her run with the company fizzled out as she disappeared from television in October 2024.

Saraya subsequently left the company in March 2025, despite having a contract that ran until September.

Saraya Explains AEW Exit

In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Saraya explained why she decided to leave AEW, candidly admitting that she felt there wasn’t room for her in the promotion. She added that while she could have stayed on the sidelines and continued to get paid, she wanted to be active and throw herself into a series of new projects.

“It got to a point, I loved my time there, I really did, but there was nothing really much for me to do. When I was there, all I wanted to do was help elevate the division. So I’m like, ‘I’ll eat a pin here and there, I’ll do it, whatever someone needs.’

I don’t think there was much room for me there. You have big stars there, and I just decided that this is probably the perfect time for me to take a step back, because the only thing left for me to do there would be to wrestle Mercedes. But she already had stuff lined up all the way up until All In that they’re about to do.

So I was like, What am I gonna do, stay at home? It’s nice to collect a paycheck sometimes, sure, but I’d rather be active and doing something I’m really enjoying. That’s why I wanted to do the podcast, my book came out, all that kind of fun stuff, so I can put all my energy into that, rather than being like, well, when am I going to be on TV next? I don’t want to have to stress about that.

So it was just easier, and Tony was great. He was agreeing too. He’s like, okay, yeah, let’s do it. So it was a very nice split, and great business, which is wonderful. And like I said before, the door is always open for these places, which is really nice. I leave on really good terms. But yeah, I feel like my time came to an end, what else do I do?”

Saraya went on to confirm that she’s a free agent and would be open to returning to WWE, potentially as early as Evolution on July 13.

All quotes courtesy of chrisvanvliet.com