Saraya Didn't Feel Ready To Be A Champion Upon AEW Debut Last Year

wo months after her WWE contract expired, Saraya made the jump over to All Elite Wrestling. While she wasn't cleared to compete at the time of her debut, many wrestling fans were curious to see how the trajectory of Saraya's AEW run would shape up.

In instances where former WWE Superstars transition to other promotions, those stars are sometimes automatically awarded with a championship. Regardless if she was cleared or not, Saraya asserts that she was not ready for that responsibility right away.

Speaking on Women's Wrestling Talk, Saraya shared her thoughts on the possibility of being designated as the AEW Women's Championship immediately after her arrival to the company in September 2022.

"I wasn't ready for that. Even now, there's conversation like, 'Is she ready? Is she not ready?' I couldn't give a sh*t about that, but a year ago I definitely was not ready," Saraya said. "I don't think that would be very fair for anybody either if I came in straight away and won the championship straight away. From my standpoint, considering I've been out for five plus years, and then all of a sudden, I'm just like, 'Okay, I can win a championship,' yeah, it wouldn't be too fair.

"I like the way I started," Saraya continued. "I like the slow build to it. I was very fortunate that I got to go in into a big storyline with Britt Baker. She is one of the top girls of the company, the first ever signing with AEW. So yeah, I was very fortunate when it comes to that, but I like that it took me a year to get it. It gave me a little bit more of a build and, and a fight for it. And there was girls in between that got the championship. I feel like now was the perfect time."

11 months after her AEW debut, Saraya clutched her first piece of championship gold in AEW, defeating Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, and Toni Storm to win the AEW Women's Championship. As an added bonus, Saraya's title win emanated from her home country of England, as AEW hosted All In from London.

When looking toward the future, Saraya hopes her title reign is one of substance.

"Hopefully [it's] long and entertaining for everybody," she said. "I don't know where it's going to go. I don't know if I'll lose it in a week's time. I don't know. But I'm just really happy that after nine years, I never thought I would ever hold a championship again.

I never thought I'd ever wrestle again. And so, yeah, just having that moment in Wembley [Stadium] in the UK where I'm from, it was special. It can end tomorrow, and I'll be happy that I had that moment."