Saraya joined Busted Open Radio this week with Dave LaGreca and Natalya Neidhart to discuss her new memoir and her career.
In the candid interview, the former WWE Divas Champion spoke about missing WWE, her reaction to AJ Lee’s surprise return, her current health, and her desire to step back into the ring.
Saraya admitted she still feels a deep connection to WWE and the people she worked with, “I’m always going to have that feeling, because WWE is doing amazing things right now. I miss being in the locker room. I miss being around people like Natty. I miss my sisters. I miss being a part of these things.”
She described AJ Lee’s return as emotional for her, calling AJ her “fairy godmother.”
Saraya said, “When I watched AJ, I’ve watched that over and over again, because she’s my fairy godmother. She was one that took me under her wing when I first came up on the roster, and we traveled together… People still like me, and they still want me to be around. That’s probably the best feeling in the world for me.”
She then revealed that fan reaction to AJ’s return reignited her own passion for wrestling.
With her neck fully healed, she said she wants to begin training for a comeback, “I want to get in the ring and bring back the Paige that I was in NXT. I’m ready to come back. I want to get my cardio back and get the ring rust off. I found my love for it again. If I ever come back, people are going to be surprised at what I can do. I’m going to credit Natty because I am coming to the Dungeon. I’m going to come there for a good month, and we are going to sweat.”
While confident in her legacy, Saraya admitted she still wrestles with self-doubt, “I feel like I have done a lot for women’s wrestling. I do believe that. But everyone has a moment, a human moment, where you get in your head. Sometimes this world can be exhausting mentally, and you have insecurity. Now my neck is healthy. Now I’m in full health. I want to start training again and get back in the ring.”
Beyond wrestling, Saraya discussed the difficult but rewarding process of writing her new memoir, Hell in Boots: Clawing My Way Through Nine Lives.
Initially working with a ghostwriter, she eventually rewrote the book herself with help from her friend Taylor to ensure the story sounded authentic, “I wanted it to feel like my diary… It was exhausting, mentally draining, like therapy sessions going over chapters. It was very emotional… If I was going to do a book, I had to tell everything. Once it was done, it was rewarding. At least people are hearing it from me, not from someone on the internet who thinks they know me.”
Natalya praised the book for capturing Saraya’s real voice, which Saraya emphasized was her main goal.
Saraya, formerly Paige in WWE, made her main roster debut in 2014 by defeating AJ Lee for the Divas Championship on her first night. She became one of WWE’s most popular stars before her in-ring career was cut short by neck injuries, leading to her 2018 retirement. She later signed with AEW in 2022, where she won the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In London in 2023.
As of now, Saraya is a free agent.
