AEW superstar Saraya recently spoke with Bleacher Report about her return match at Full Gear, where she picked up a victory over the company’s fan-favorite, Doctor Britt Baker. Saraya also discusses what she would have done in AEW if they didn’t clear her to compete. Highlights from the interview are below.
On the role she would have had in AEW if she didn’t get cleared to wrestle:
I was always going to have a place, whether it be behind the scenes or even kind of like a GM role or a manager. They were always going to find a position for me there. But straight out the gate, I said to Tony, ‘I want to be able to wrestle.’ And he was just like, ‘Well, maybe we can do it where it’s just tag matches. Once you get cleared.’ I said, ‘Nope, I want to have a singles match. That’s what I want.’ And he said, “OK, well if you get 100 percent clear, then absolutely fine.’ [AEW doctors] actually didn’t want to clear me until they had a full rundown from an outside doctor. Just to see everyone’s opinions on it. And luckily, everyone’s opinions were the same. And my neck was 100 percent ready to go.
On her return to the ring:
Actually, no. I was really surprised with that. Like, my neck felt absolutely fine in the ring. And it felt fine after. But everything felt very, very sore afterward, I had to take like a three-day nap [laughs]. But yeah, I feel 100 percent. And I can go again. I feel like the more reps I get in, the better it’s going to be for me in the long run. Because as much as I don’t want to deep dive into a billion matches, I definitely need to get the repetition of being in matches again, so I can get my wind up. That was my nemesis in the match. I got backstage and [AEW producer and coach] Jerry Lynn said, ‘Oh, your head was down a lot.’ I was like, “Yeah, I was f–king blown up.’ [laughs]. But Britt really took care of me too. She really did.