Ever since Saraya, known as Paige during her time in WWE, made the jump to AEW, the assumption has been that WWE wouldn’t clear her to wrestle and that the main reason she switched companies was to find somewhere that would.
Turns out that narrative might not be correct after all.
In an in-depth look at Saraya’s situation today, Fightful Select suggests that WWE was never really interested in keeping her when Vince McMahon was still in charge, to the extent that it never even evaluated whether she’d be able to return to the ring prior to her release this summer.
There’s a lot of conjecture and rumors about WWE getting Saraya numerous doctors to get her cleared, but we’re told that’s not true — to the extent that WWE didn’t have her checked at all for a return to the ring, and Saraya actually went through three extensive health checks to gain clearance for an in-ring return herself. We’re even told that WWE wasn’t interested in bringing her back prior to the new regime, and wouldn’t sign off on X-Rays to have her examined, and that the case was closed as far as they were considered.
Fightful Select adds that once Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over as head of creative, WWE made an effort to get Saraya back, but “ultimately the freedom to do outside projects without giving up a cut, and other deal terms led her to signing with AEW.”
The report puts Saraya’s departure and subsequent signing with AEW in a whole new light by raising the possibility that WWE was simply content to see her go, whether she was cleared to wrestle or not. It’s surprising since, as Paige, she had worn championship gold several times, and was certainly popular with fans throughout her WWE tenure.
It also should put fans’ minds at ease that if she ends up wrestling in AEW, it’s not because the bar to her being cleared was somehow lower there. If Saraya returns to the ring, it’ll be because all doctors involved agree it’s fine for her to compete, which is how it should be.
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