Tag: Saraya

Saraya will be with AEW for multiple years, wrestling status still unclear for now

Saraya will be in AEW for the next few years, at least.

AEW wants Saraya to stick around for a while.

The artist formerly known as Paige during her time in WWE made a dramatic (but non-contact) debut at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam, helping to run off Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter and company. AEW later sent out a “Saraya is #AllElite” tweet, which it generally only does when it has signed a performer to a contract.

Fightful Select reported today on some of the details of that deal, stating that “Saraya has agreed to a three-year contract with AEW” while adding that there could be option years as well. No money figures are disclosed, which isn’t unusual with news on wrestler contracts, but the outlet does add that “the amount of money it was signed for ‘largely implies that she’ll be wrestling in some capacity.'”

That’s a significant angle to the story because of the uncertainty around Saraya’s ability to return to the ring. As Paige, she suffered a serious neck injury in 2016 that required surgery, then was injured again shortly after she was cleared to compete in late 2017. The second neck injury was one that WWE was never willing to clear her from, leading to her eventual departure from the company this summer.

Other high profile wrestlers, including Bryan Danielson and Edge, have come back from injuries thought to be career-ending in recent years, and the assumption is that Saraya and AEW expect that she’ll be able to do the same. The contract news certainly points in that direction, so it could be more of a matter of “if” and not “when” she returns to the ring.

More hints to that end could come as soon as tonight. Saraya is being promoted as part of the AEW Dynamite broadcast from Philadelphia, and plenty of eyes will be on her to see if she’s still hands off or talks more about her plans in the company.

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Opening Bell: Riddle takes on The Judgment Day, AEW rolls into Philly

Get set for the week in WWE and AEW with Opening Bell: quick previews of Raw, SmackDown, Dynamite and Rampage.

Welcome to the Opening Bell, where we round up what’s been announced for WWE (Raw and SmackDown) and AEW (Dynamite and Rampage) programming for the week we’ve just begun.

WWE Raw preview – Monday, Sept. 26, Rogers Place, Edmonton

Matt Riddle, you may have bitten off more than you can chew.

Just about everyone who has tangled with The Judgment Day has come to regret it, though arguably none more than Rey Mysterio since he lost his son to the group. Nevertheless, Riddle has gotten tangled up with Judgment Day business during his own ongoing vendetta against Seth Rollins, and will try to make the best of it Monday night by defeating Damian Priest.

The trick, of course, is dealing with the rest of the group. He may not even have Rey to back him up since the elder Mysterio has his own match with Rollins to worry about.

Also on tap for this week’s show in Edmonton:

AEW Dynamite preview – Wednesday, Sept. 28, The Liacouras Center, Philadelphia

The Forbidden Door isn’t closed. No sir, as Jon Moxley is about to find out this week on Dynamite, it still is open a crack every now and then, and you never know who might walk through it.

In this case, it’s NJPW’s Juice Robinson, showing up in Philly for an AEW World Championship Eliminator. And while we don’t usually like these “beat the champ to get a shot at the champ’s title” bouts, we’ll make an exception for Rock Hard in this case.

AEW is also promoting these segments for Dynamite:

  • Saraya will speak, following her dramatic debut at Grand Slam.
  • The Jericho Appreciation Society will hold a championship celebration after the seemingly unlikely Chris Jericho ROH World Championship victory … and maybe say something about fellow ROH champ Daniel Garcia too.
  • MJF will be on the show to stir the pot again, probably.

WWE SmackDown preview – Friday, Sept. 30, Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg

WWE continues its tour of the North by hitting Winnipeg for SmackDown on Friday night. If you watched any college or NFL football this past weekend, you no doubt heard Michael Cole’s voice on promos advertising a few matches already set for this show.

Most notably, new BFFs Solo Sikoa and Sami Zayn will team to face Madcap Moss and Ricochet. The latter duo was only trying to warn Sami about his inevitable heartbreaking betrayal by the Bloodline, but Solo wasn’t trying to hear that talk and gave them a good thrashing.

Two other matches have also already been revealed for SmackDown in Winnipeg:

  • Shotzi, perhaps finally driving her cool tank again, will nonetheless be the underdog when she faces Bayley.
  • After being publicly disrespected by Los Lotharios during their watch party last week, Hit Row will get a chance at some payback.

AEW Rampage preview – Friday, Sept. 30, The Liacouras Center, Philadelphia (recorded on Sept. 28)

AEW has actually been doing a nice job of teasing some Rampage matches a week in advance, but that wasn’t the case this time out thanks to Grand Slam being a bigger than normal deal in its own right (and expanding to two hours just for last week).

So surprise! We may know more as we get closer, and certainly by the time Dynamite is on some matches will be revealed before they are taped later Wednesday night, but this show is a question mark for the time being.

Saraya has arrived in AEW, but will she be able to wrestle?

There’s no word yet on whether Saraya is going to be wrestling or doing something else in AEW.

Considering how popular she was in WWE as Paige, there was a lot of excitement when Saraya made a surprise debut at AEW Grand Slam on Wednesday night in New York. But that enthusiasm might be tempered just a tad because of questions about what her role will be going forward.

Specifically, it’s not clear whether Saraya is medically cleared to wrestle. She hasn’t competed in the ring since December 2017 after suffering a neck injury, and all of her appearances between that date and her departure from WWE this summer were in non-wrestling capacities.

Saraya has signed a full-time contract with AEW, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be wrestling. In his latest Wrestling Observer newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that it might be telling that Saraya didn’t get physically involved at the end of the women’s four-way title match at Grand Slam.

There is no answer to the question as to what role she will play, if she will wrestle regularly, sparingly, or not at all. … If she is going to wrestle, and can go at her prior level, she will be a good addition. But it was notable in her run-in she didn’t touch anyone, and with WWE, not only was she not allowed to wrestle, but nobody was allowed to touch her. We were told that she had not been cleared as of very recently, which would explain not touching anyone, but would like to be cleared.

Meltzer also added that while AEW has had success allowing performers like Bryan Danielson and Christian Cage to wrestle again after suffering potentially career-ending injuries (as WWE has had with Edge), it would be a bad look if the company cleared Saraya and she ended up getting reinjured.

The follow-up question, then, is what would AEW do with Saraya if she isn’t medically cleared to compete? She’s shown a knack for making an impact as an authority figure, though that’s not something AEW really does — even Tony Khan rarely pops up on TV to make matches. Still, that doesn’t mean the company couldn’t use Saraya that way, and maybe having her oversee the women’s division would help ease gripes from fans online that the AEW women don’t get the time or attention they deserve.

But fans, clearly, want to see Saraya in the ring if possible, and the presumption here is that AEW would not have given her such a showy entrance if it didn’t think a medical clearance was in the cards. Saraya’s first appearance got people buzzing, but it’s her next few that might tell the tale of where her career is headed over the coming months.

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AEW Dynamite Grand Slam: Best photos of Saraya making her AEW debut

See the best photos of Saraya making her AEW debut at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam.

Though Toni Storm retained her AEW Interim Women’s World Championship at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam, it appeared she would be on the wrong end of a vicious post-match beating from Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter.

The sudden arrival of Saraya changed that in a hurry. Known to fans as Paige during her time in WWE, her first appearance in AEW was definitely a memorable one. Check out the best photos of Saraya’s arrival at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sept. 21, 2022. (Photos courtesy of All Elite Wrestling)