Former WWE Superstar Saraya, formerly known as Paige, revealed that Vince McMahon told her to hold off on announcing her retirement. In late 2017, Saraya returned from a lengthy hiatus and introduced her new faction, Absolution, on RAW.
Absolution featured Saraya as the leader, alongside Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. The faction quickly dominated the roster, but their momentum took an unexpected turn just a month later after their introduction.
During a WWE live event in December 2017, Absolution faced Bayley, Mickie James, and Sasha Banks, now known as Mercedes Mone. During the match, Mone delivered a back kick to Saraya, causing her to collapse and suffer a severe neck injury.
The injury forced her into retirement, cutting short her in-ring comeback. Despite the setback, Saraya continued appearing on WWE TV for several months with Absolution. However, she didn’t immediately announce her retirement.
In a recent interview with the Lightweights podcast, she explained why. Saraya revealed that Vince McMahon wanted her to wait, believing she deserved a bigger stage for her farewell announcement.
Vince McMahon wanted Saraya to say goodbye on a much bigger stage
Saraya announced her retirement on WWE RAW after WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans, the same city where she made her main roster debut in 2014 and won the Divas Championship in her first match against AJ Lee.
Reflecting on her retirement announcement, Saraya shared how rare it is for female wrestlers to receive a proper farewell. She stated, “You know what the wonderful thing is, though? Is that women don’t usually get to say goodbye, right? They don’t get the retirement speeches, they sometimes get a social media post and that’s it. Kharma [Awesome Kong] did it because she was having a baby and she was like, ‘I need to take time away,’ or whatever, so she got to do that, but no one ever got to do that. So, Vince was great, and he told me, ‘Don’t tell anyone you’ve retired yet,’ and this was January.” [H/T: SportsKeeda]
Saraya then revealed that Vince McMahon wanted it to be saved for WWE RAW after WrestleMania 34. She stated, “Vince said save it for RAW after WrestleMania, and that was in New Orleans. That’s where I debuted, and that’s why I wanted to retire there, but he gave me the opportunity on the biggest RAW of the year, to be able to say goodbye, and I’m just (…) I was so thankful for that, it was just (…) it was great. I never expected to get to say goodbye for something like that.”
Forced to retire in 2018, Saraya made her comeback in 2022. After her WWE contract expired in 2022, she signed with AEW and made her in-ring return at AEW Full Gear, after almost five years. Since then, she has continued wrestling in Tony Khan’s promotion.
