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Saraya recently touched upon her sobriety journey and her chat with Tony Khan when she signed with AEW.
Before joining the Jacksonville-based promotion, the former AEW Women's World Champion was seemingly going through a dark phase. She was sidelined from in-ring action due to a severe neck injury for years. Around that time, she was also struggling with depression and alcoholism.
Thankfully, the former Paige returned to active competition in 2022 and escaped the clutches of alcoholism. In an interview with KTAR News, Saraya spoke about what Tony Khan said to her when she joined All Elite Wrestling:
“So they told me I'd never wrestle again. That was it. Like I lost all the spinal fluid around my spine. I was done. And then I came to AEW, and Tony was like, ‘Well, let's go get checked out at the doctor and see what the deal is with your neck.’ He was like, 'You don't have to wrestle, but it'd be nice to see where you're at.'"
The 31-year-old further disclosed that she had been sober for six years and had been taking care of herself:
I've remained sober for nearly six years, and I don't do anything crazy anymore like I did when I was younger. So, yeah, I went to the doctor. I was completely cleared by a doctor, a non-wrestling related doctor,” Saraya added. [5:33 - 6:13]
Saraya takes out an NBA mascot
It has been a few weeks since Saraya set foot inside the squared circle. Her last match was on January 10, 2024, on the Homecoming edition of AEW Dynamite. She teamed up with Ruby Soho, Skye Blue, and Julia Hart at the event in a losing effort against Anna Jay, Kris Statlander, Thunder Rosa & Willow Nightingale.
She has been on a break from in-ring action for a while, but that didn't stop her from displaying her wrestling expertise on a different platform. On Tuesday, the former Paige attended an NBA game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. At the event, a camera caught her suplexing the Suns' mascot, Go the Gorilla.
What was your reaction to the AEW star taking out the Suns' mascot? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
