On Wednesday, Saraya announced her departure from AEW, saying the two sides mutually agreed to part ways ahead of his contract expiring in September.
Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Saraya gave more insight into why she and AEW split months early.
"When I came into AEW, the thing I wanted to do was to help build stuff. I didn't want to be the top dog or the face, that's not what I wanted. I wanted to put girls over if that helped them in any way. That's all I wanted to do. I feel like I was coming to the end with that and there was really not much left that I could do. I don't think there was a place for me anymore in there. There was probably one more thing with Mercedes that I could have done, and she was completely up for it, but she already has these storylines. My contract was coming to an end and I wasn't going to re-sign after September. I was not going to do it. I wanted to take a step outside of wrestling for a little bit. I wanted to get my feet wet outside of wrestling for a little bit. Tony [Khan] was so amazing with it. It was mutual. He was so supportive of it and has been supportive since I asked for time off in November. 'There's really no place for me anymore.' We came to that decision, I'm happy about it, he wished me luck with everything. The door is always open. It's scary, but I'm exploring everything outside of wrestling right now," she said.
Saraya had not wrestled on AEW TV since October.
Saraya's history with Mercedes dates back to their time in WWE when Mercedes delivered a kick to the neck area of Saraya that caused her to retire in December 2017. Saraya has stated many times that she never blamed Mercedes and that it was an accident.
Saraya previously stated that Mercedes was one of the first people she messaged when she got cleared.
Saraya's book Hell In Boots is available now.
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