Paige was forced to retire from in-ring competition after she suffered a serious neck injury at a WWE live event on December 2017. However, the first-ever NXT Women’s Champion stayed with the company until July of this year. Previously in a Twitch stream, Paige announced that WWE did not renew her contract and also noted that she completely understood the situation.
Two months later, Saraya formerly known as Paige made her shocking AEW debut on this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam. Following a fatal four-way match for the Interim AEW Women’s World Championship, Saraya saved Athena and Toni Storm from getting attacked by Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, and Serena Deeb.
Many fans have a question about whether Saraya can compete. Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer noted that Saraya is still not medically cleared to wrestle.
There is no answer to the question as to what role she will play, if she will wrestle regularly, sparingly, or not at all. She got an enormous surprise pop, but these types of things always get that reaction. Muta got a similar gigantic pop. Pops and surprises are cool, but their long-term value is nil if they cost a lot of money. If she is going to wrestle, and can go at her prior level, she will be a good addition. But it was notable in her run-in she didn’t touch anyone, and with WWE, not only was she not allowed to wrestle, but nobody was allowed to touch her.- H/T Ringside News
We were told that she had not been cleared as of very recently, which would explain not touching anyone, but would like to be cleared. She is refereeing for her family’s WAW promtion in a few weeks.
Tony Khan has signed a lot of wrestlers to his promotion in the past several months. But some of them are not happy with their bookings.