Saraya-Jade Bevis, formerly known as Paige, saw her time with WWE officially come to an end today when her contract expired. Yesterday, she penned a goodbye letter to the company in a detailed and emotional piece for the Players Tribune. In the wake of that letter, Bevis has received plenty of praise from fans and fellow wrestlers since then, including Becky Lynch, who took to social media to heavily praise the former Anti-Diva for the impact she made on the wrestling business at such a young age.
“I met Saraya when she was only 13 years old,” Lynch tweeted. “Even then you could tell that she was going to be a star. Before she could legally drink in America, she changed the game completely and forever. #thankyoupaige”
Bevis, who became the first-ever “NXT” Women’s Champion in 2013 at the age of 20, is widely credited with initiating the transformation of the WWE women’s division that took place in the mid-to-late 2010s, though she never saw the full benefits of that transformation. She won the WWE Divas Championship in her first match on “WWE Raw” in 2014, defeating AJ Lee, and ended her WWE career as a 2-time Divas Champion, but she never held the new WWE Women’s Championship (which has since been split into the “Raw” and “SmackDown” Women’s Championships), the restoration of which was seen as a major victory for the so-called “Divas revolution,” and her only WrestleMania match was a tag team affair at WrestleMania 31, when she teamed with Lee to take on the Bella Twins.
Throughout their respective careers, Lynch and Bevis have shared the ring together on 41 separate occasions, whether that be in singles matches, tag team bouts, or multi-woman contests. The last time they worked together in the ring, they were tag team partners, defeating Lana and Charlotte at a WWE live event in 2016.
Bevis, who is now officially using the name Saraya, last wrestled in 2017. Despite the fact she is believed to be retired from in-ring competition due to a neck injury, she has hinted at making a return to the squared circle several times on social media, admitting it is something she would still like to do.
While her future remains unknown, Bevis has already been announced for a couple of events in the near future. She will have her own panel show, ‘Saraya: Turning The Paige,’ at Starrcast V during WWE SummerSlam weekend in Nashville, while she is also set to return to her family’s promotion World Association of Wrestling in Norwich, England, this October.
Have a news tip or correction? send it to [email protected]
Sign up for Wrestling Inc. Breaking News Alerts
