Paige is starting a new chapter of her journey and reflecting on her time in WWE.
With her WWE contract expiring this week, Saraya, better known in WWE as Paige is looking forward to the future and saying goodbye to her past with a touching goodbye letter in the Player’s Tribune.
In her goodbye, she reflects on several of the names she faced along the way like AJ Lee and The Bella Twins. She also thanked WWE for giving her generation the chance to shine.
Seriously: the gratitude I feel toward each of the AMAZING women I shared a ring with!! While there are a million pieces to being a WWE Superstar, in the end for me it all comes back to wrestling. And that’s where a lot of my best memories are. Whether it’s my matches with Nattie (my favourite opponent), or with Emma (forever proud of the work we did in NXT), or countless others. When I first got to WWE, we weren’t very far removed from the time of bra-and-panties matches. A lot of people still considered the women’s match on every show to be the “pee break.” And I’ll always feel such a kinship with the women of my era, because we worked so damn hard to prove ourselves. To prove that we couldn’t just wrestle — we could wrestle our asses off.
And while I wish the same support had been given to earlier eras of female wrestlers, to WWE’s credit they did come around on what our group was capable of. So many people had our backs and gave us the tools to succeed. Stephanie and Hunter, obviously. Dusty. Dr. Tom. Norman Smiley. Joey Mercury. Steve Keirn. Nothing was handed to us, but it felt like anything was possible. Want to dress more alternative? If you can get it over, go for it. Want to do a top-rope suplex? If you can pull it off, we won’t hold you back. That was the attitude. We were very fortunate.
I’m also grateful for the CURRENT group of female wrestlers in WWE. Everyone seems to have a different idea on where and when our Women’s Revolution started, but to me the where and when don’t matter. What matters is that it happened, and that women’s wrestling is in good hands with the talent on this roster. I’m incredibly honoured to have gotten to be a part of something so special, and can’t wait to see what the future brings.
Paige also shared a touching memory of Stephanie McMahon who called her a Survivor right before her 2017 return from injury.
I’ll never forget this: As I was getting ready to go out there for my “re-debut,” Stephanie pulled me aside. And she just held me for a minute. She gave me the biggest, longest hug. And she said, “Hey — everyone out there loves you. They’re going to be excited to see you. You want to know why? Because you’re a survivor. You SURVIVED. And that means something. So hold your head up, and enjoy this moment. It’s yours.”
Stephanie was right (as usual). I went out there … and it was the most amazing feeling. No one hated me!! They were actually glad I was back. I was still Paige. The connection was still there.
And in a lot of ways, that story is my time with WWE in a nutshell. It was far from perfect. There were some brutal setbacks. And to be honest, I was a bit of an ass for a couple of years. But they always believed in my will to survive, and in the person I could grow to become.
So I wanted to say thanks.
Now, she looks forward to what is next, and what is next for her is a stage show as part of Starrcast V. Learn more here.
In her original announcement that she was leaving WWE, Paige also revealed that she plans on returning to the ring one day. Learn more here.
