Saraya is enjoying the freedom she has as part of the All Elite Wrestling roster.
All Elite Wrestling’s Saraya was a recent guest on The Mark Hoke Show to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked how she felt not doing anything in the final years of her WWE career, Saraya admitted that she felt depressed sitting at home, not being allowed to do anything.
“It’s not replaceable. The feeling that you get from something that you love is just not replaceable; you can’t just fill it with something else,” Saraya said. “Like nothing made me feel — like I was doing Twitch, but I was also being held back so much when I was in the WWE because they just didn’t give me the freedom to do what I wanted to do. To even like try and find something else that could potentially fill that void.
“And then also they wouldn’t want me to do media. They didn’t want me to do anything. So I was sitting on my ass for a couple of years, and people thought I enjoyed that. No, I hated that. I was miserable; it made me very depressed. Not to the point where I started doing drugs and drinking again because I was a lot smarter by that point. But it would make me so miserable, like not being able to do anything.”
Saraya went on to talk about everyone who reached out to her from All Elite Wrestling after her WWE contract expired and the freedom that she’s found since signing with the company.
“And that’s one of the things that when me and WWE parted ways, I was getting reached out to by Tony Khan and Jericho, Moxley, Renee, Britt like everyone, and they were just like, you will have the freedom to do whatever you want here,” Saraya continued. “You just have to come to work every week, and I’m like, are you sure about that? They were like, ‘No, we will give you that first-class travel. Yeah, we will let you take days off when you need it. Yeah, you don’t have to wrestle as much if you don’t want to, but the option is there.’ The thing is, they gave me the option to do what I want, and it felt so good. Like I felt liberated somewhat. I just felt like I just had freedom.
“Again, that’s not a knock on WWE. I was there for a very, very long time. I loved my time there; they gave me a platform. They created Paige essentially, right? They gave me the opportunity, the baton, and I ran with it, and it’s awesome. And I appreciate them so much. But you know, when you’re like moving out of your parent’s house when you’ve been stuck in your parent’s house, and then you get your own place, and that’s the freedom that you enjoy like, oh man, this feels really good to have my own place and leg room and stuff.
“So that’s what I mean when I say freedom is like you don’t have to ask too much permission when it comes to like if you want to get a tattoo or anything like that. You don’t have to change your hair color and stuff. Like you have the freedom to do that, and if I’m feeling really bad after today, I could be like, ‘Tony, I’m not feeling very well,’ and he’d be like, ‘Hey, no worries, feel better. Come back next week.’ He’s so laid back, and I enjoy that in a boss. I really do enjoy that.”
READ MORE: Saraya Wants Falling In Reverse To Perform At AEW All In
What do you make of Saraya’s comments? Do you think the freedom talents have in All Elite Wrestling is a good thing? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit The Mark Hoke Show with a link back to this article for the transcription.
