Saraya admits that she had lots of room for improvement when she made her return to wrestling in 2022.
When Saraya joined AEW just under two years ago, it had been half a decade since her in-ring WWE run had come to an end. This long break, in which she briefly retired from wrestling, gave her some troubles once she tried to get back into the swing of things.
She admits that her critically panned return match against Dr. Britt Baker DMD was bad, and her first promo back on the AEW program might have bombed. But over time she believes that she has grown and shaken off some of the ring rust that was built up during her absence from wrestling.
In a recent interview with Izzy On Sports, Saraya mentioned that the promo side of her work was greatly elevated by AEW’s own Jon Moxley. She remembered speaking with Moxley and learning about how authenticity could help with her mic work.
“Jon Moxley actually helped me a lot,” she explained. “One of my best friends is Renee [Paquette], [so] I’m friends with the hubby, too. He was one of the catalysts of getting me over to AEW as well. He was on the phone with me and stuff like that,” she explained. “With the promos, since I s*** the bed the first time, I was just like, ‘I just need help I don’t feel confident in myself.’ He was just like, so, that promo with me and Britt [Baker] where I’m being real. I’m talking about real-life stuff. Like yeah, I am sober. Yeah, I was a mess. Yes, the world saw my tapes go on the friggin’ internet from when I was 19, just all the struggles that I went through for that year and a half. I was being real. He was telling me I had to be real. He was just like, ‘That’s the perfect promo, stop trying to be a character right now and just speak your truth’ kind of thing. He was helping me with that kind of stuff. He really, really did help me. It made me come out of my shell, and made me feel way more comfortable.”
In the interview, Saraya also touched on what it’s like working with AEW’s Tony Khan, how she would have booked the end of her recent title run, the experience of having a movie on her life story, and more. You can watch the full conversation here:
