Saraya made her AEW debut at Dynamite Gland Slam on September 21st, 2022 when she made a shock appearance to help Toni Storm.
Seven days later, the former WWE star cut her first in-ring promo for a number of years and wasted little time stamping her authority on the AEW women’s division. Saraya listed off her achievements while taking some shots at Britt Baker in the process. The British star would eventually face Baker at Full Gear.
Saraya later admitted that she was incredibly nervous and rusty during the promo. Speaking on Busted Open Radio, she reiterated how nervous she was, commenting that she even questioned her decision to come back.
“I was so mortified by the promo myself that I actually second guessed coming back altogether. ‘Did I just make a mistake? Did I make myself look so awful?’ People like Dean Malenko was like, ‘You went out there, you said on the microphone that you were nervous.’ I really was.
I was terrified. I have never been so terrified in my career. Even when I debuted, won different championships, I was terrified, but not as terrified as coming back after five years, going to a different company in front of a new group of fans, in front of all these people watching you and they want to see you fail or do good. There was a lot of eyes,”
Saraya added that Jon Moxley has been helping guide her with her promos, revealing that he told her to speak from the heart.
“I wanted to come across more, ‘is she a good guy or a bad guy too?’ Just the way I delivered it, it wasn’t my proudest promo I’ve done. If I had to own up a promo, which I ended up having with Britt, I had to redeem myself. Moxley helped out a lot with these promos.
With that one, he was like, ‘Speak from the heart. Stop trying to plan a promo out in your head. Speak from experience and more personal’ without taking low blow jabs just, ‘I’m a star.’ Then it was, ‘who is the babyface and who is the heel’ with me and Britt. We decided it doesn’t matter, you don’t have to have a definitive babyface or heel,”
During her first promo, Saraya sparked controversy online by taking a shot at WWE, commenting “Since I talked to Tony [Khan] backstage, It’s so good to finally have a boss that actually listens to me!”
Reflecting on this portion of the promo the star said she wishes she wouldn’t have said it, interestingly noting that it was something she was asked to say.
“The one thing I do wish I didn’t say, I got asked to say a certain sentence, the sentence where I was like, ‘Finally, a boss that listens to me’ I wish I didn’t take that low hanging fruit. I’ve always spoke highly of WWE because they helped me a lot. I love AEW. There is no reason to take that low hanging fruit and I feel that caused a lot of tribalism and negative reaction.
There are some things you wish you didn’t say, and that’s one of them. I feel it would have gone smoother if I wouldn’t have said that. I understand why people were made, ‘but I’m playing a character. Be quiet.'”
Saraya Forms The Outcasts
In the months after defeating Britt Baker at Full Gear, Saraya turned heel and formed an official partnership with Toni Storm. At Revolution in March the duo recruited Ruby Soho.
H/t to Fightful