Saraya Recalls Being Told To Lose Weight By WWE Official

Saraya has revealed stunning details behind comments made by a WWE Official during a tryout with the company.

The former WWE Divas Champion spent 11 years with the company after originally signing a developmental deal in 2011. Competing under the moniker of Paige, she would go on to be a leading light in the women’s revolution even after a serious neck injury curtailed her in-ring time with the company in 2017.

Saraya departed WWE in July 2022, inking a deal with Tony Khan’s AEW just weeks later after being medically cleared for a return to the squared circle. She would capture the AEW Women’s Championship after scoring victory in a fatal four way match against Hikaru Shida, Britt Baker and Toni Storm in front of a huge crowd at London’s Wembley Stadium at All In 2023.

Despite achieving remarkable success in both promotions, Saraya has revealed that she was on the receiving end of harsh comments from a top official as she attempted to make her way into WWE.

Speaking during a recent appearance on Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen, the British star claimed that a former member of WWE’s Talent Relations team suggested she needed to lose weight and wasn’t attractive enough for the company during a failed tryout:

“I was 18 at the time, I did the (WWE) tryout and they were just like, ‘No,’ and there was a guy at the time that worked as T.R. that pretty much said I wasn’t pretty enough to be there too, which broke my heart.

He doesn’t work there anymore. He hasn’t worked there for years but he said, you know, I wasn’t pretty enough to be there and I needed to lose some baby weight and all that kind of stuff.

I was a kid and I was like, oh, that’s kind of hard to deal with and I tried to dress like how I thought divas should dress, right? So I wore color, my hair was lighter, I took my piercings out. I had lip rings and gauges and stuff and I took them all out because I was like, ‘No, I have to be a diva’ and so I felt like he saw right through that and I wasn’t being myself so maybe I wasn’t the most beautiful version of myself but you know, because I was trying to be something I wasn’t.

So then, I came back like six months later and I was like, ‘F*ck em. If they can’t take me…’ I just wore all black. I wore all black, I kept my piercings in, I had all black hair and I had a little blonde piece right here.”

Former WWE Star Reveals Scraped Saraya Romance Angle

During her hiatus from the ring, Saraya took on a number of on-screen roles with WWE including becoming General Manager of SmackDown in April 2018.

It proved to be a short lived position, however, although former WWE Superstar Shelton Benjamin recently revealed that the company scrapped a romantic angle between he and Saraya during her run as the head of the blue brand.

H/T: POST Wrestling for the above transcription.