Saraya Says She Knew Fans Would Turn On Her Following AEW Debut
Saraya expected fan backlash after her AEW debut
It’s been a year since Saraya returned to wrestling, with the former Paige making her All Elite Wrestling debut at Grand Slam II in September 2022.
Whilst Saraya debuted to a massive pop, the fans soon turned her - necessitating a full-blown heel turn. During a conversation with Metro, the AEW Women’s World Champion knew it was only a matter of time before the fans turned:
“I always wanted to be a heel, even before [AEW] knew I was gonna be wrestling again. I always wanted to be a bad guy. Because I already knew it wasn’t going to be long until they turned on me.
“I knew that. I said that – having conversations before I came to AEW, I was speaking to Jon Moxley, I was speaking to [Chris] Jericho, I was speaking to Tony Khan. They were all telling me, ‘You’re gonna be a babyface first because people are just gonna be happy to see you’. It was really frustrating.
“What I kept doing is I kept throwing in heelish things in promos or how I acted, things like that. I wanted that slow burn anyway and then eventually I was gonna get the opportunity to turn heel – I just had to wait a little bit. It worked out,” said Saraya.