Saraya Explains Why She Wasn’t in the 2026 Royal Rumble

Saraya is addressing the Royal Rumble conversation — and the emotional wave of fan support that came with it. During a recent appearance on Wrestling With Freddie, the former WWE star spoke openly about why she wasn’t in the match, how much noise fans made online calling for her return, and why the decision ultimately wasn’t hers to make.

After Freddy Prinze Jr. laid out his own idea for a potential Rumble comeback, Saraya admitted she was caught off guard by just how loudly fans rallied around her. Given her time away from WWE and the controversies that followed her career, she said she genuinely believed much of that support had faded.

“A lot of people were mad that I wasn’t in the Rumble, and a lot of people thought I was going to be number thirty. And the amount of support — I’ve never had, well, I’ve had that much support before, but I thought I had lost all that support because of, like, all my controversy.”

That support quickly turned into a viral moment across social media platforms, driven largely by training clips she had posted. The response hit her harder than she expected.

“There were thousands of videos. There’s, like, across all platforms on just a couple of training videos, it was at thirteen million a couple of days ago, and now it’s like, is that at eighteen million views now? Like, it is just absolutely insane.”

“I cried one day because of it, because I’m just like, I can’t believe people still love me. You know? Like, this is crazy.”

While Saraya made it clear she wanted to be part of the Royal Rumble, she explained that there’s more behind the scenes than fan demand alone. A resurfaced clip from the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble — filmed during the same period she was told she might never wrestle again — only added to the emotion surrounding the moment.

“I wish I could be in the Rumble… I was backstage in Gorilla just crying, being like, this is what I’ve always dreamed of. I hope one day I can be a part of it again.”

“There’s more to it. I mean, WWE has to make that decision, you know — not me.”

Saraya’s comments didn’t come across as bitter, but reflective — acknowledging the love from fans while recognizing the reality of how those decisions are made. With her confirming she’s training again and taking wrestling seriously, the door doesn’t sound closed, just not entirely in her hands.

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