Saraya made her AEW debut in September 2022 and had a very different view of how she should be presented in the company.
Joining the company led to her first match since her neck injury of December 2017, all eyes were on Saraya following her departure from WWE in July 2022, with Saraya revealing the support she had received.
She would have her first match after injury at Full Gear in November 2022 against Britt Baker.
Appearing on The Corner Podcast, Saraya would explain that she saw herself being a heel for her debut story in AEW, saying:
“It’s easier to get people to hate you than love you. People always wanna find a reason to talk some sh*t on you and now you’re gonna give it to them and you’re not gonna be offended because you’re like, hey, I’m playing a character. I’m supposed to be an asshole.
“So, with the being the heel, I wanted to do it straight out of the gate but Tony (Khan) and everyone was saying, ‘You can’t because you’re now coming back. Career-ending injury, you’re finally back in the ring again so people are gonna cheer you.’”
Saraya made her AEW debut in September 2022 and would go into a feud with Britt Baker, with Saraya explaining:
“But at the same time with these promos with Britt (Baker), Britt was saying some things that were really accurate and you can’t help but be on her side. She was just like, ‘I am the pillar.’ She was. She was the first ever signing. ‘I am the one that created this women’s division.’ She was. She’s the one who built the women’s division. She was there when they had to do all the COVID shows and stuff like that. She was running the ship, she was killing it.”
With this in mind, Saraya would go on to discuss how she would have worked as a heel, concluding:
“So everything she’s saying, you can’t disagree with her and then you have me coming in from a different company being like, ‘You don’t know what it’s like to be a star. Everyone should be cheering for me’ and I look like the asshole so I’m just like, ‘Let me be a heel.’
“Let me tell you as well, AEW fans love their homegrown talents. They do not take too kindly to some people coming in, you know what I mean?
“And I’m just like, people are harsh. People are really harsh. So I’m just like, well why don’t we just make this a thing? I don’t care. I’d love to be heel, I love being heel.
“I feel like I thrive when I’m in my heel role. I can be more creative, I love to talk sh*t. You can see on social media, I love to talk sh*t. Yeah, I get a little too carried away (she laughed).”
Saraya discussing how AEW fans don’t take kindly to outsiders coming in has clearly been something that she and the other members of The Outcasts have been able to capitalize upon.
Toni Storm and Ruby Soho had also previously been fixtures on the WWE roster with the trio setting out to prove they are above the rest of the AEW women’s roster.
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