Vince McMahon Played Key Role in Saraya’s WWE Retirement Speech

Saraya’s retirement in 2018 hit fans hard—but according to her, the way it went down wouldn’t have been possible without Vince McMahon.

The former WWE star, now part of AEW, opened up during an appearance on the Lightweights podcast, revealing that Vince played a major role in making sure her in-ring goodbye actually meant something. And unlike most female wrestlers, she didn’t have to settle for a quiet Twitter farewell.

“Women don’t usually get to say goodbye, right? They don’t get retirement speeches. Sometimes they just get a social media post, and that’s it. No one ever really got to do that.”

Saraya, formerly known as Paige in WWE, was forced to retire after a devastating in-ring injury in late 2017 when Mercedes Moné (then Sasha Banks) accidentally kicked her in the back during a WWE live event at Madison Square Garden. But it was Vince who made sure her farewell wasn’t rushed.

“Vince was great. He told me, ‘Don’t tell anyone you’ve retired yet,’ and this was in January. He said, ‘Save it for Raw after WrestleMania.’ That was in New Orleans, where I debuted, and that’s why I wanted to retire there.”

She delivered her speech on the biggest Raw of the year, the post-WrestleMania 34 edition, in front of a red-hot crowd. But what Saraya didn’t know was that McMahon had one more move planned—he just didn’t let her in on the full story.

“They had written something for me and told me, ‘Listen, you don’t have to stick to this, but Vince wants you to say this one sentence.’ And it was, ‘I guess I just have to find something else to do.’”

“He told me, ‘Make sure you get that in,’ because the next day, or the next SmackDown, I was the surprise GM. But he didn’t tell me at that point, so I was like, ‘Okay, why does he want me to say that?’ I had no idea. But I made sure to say it.”

Saraya later returned to wrestling in 2022 after being medically cleared, and though she’s now stepping away from the ring again to focus on other pursuits, she remains grateful for the chance to go out on her own terms—something very few women in the industry get.

“I never expected to get to say goodbye,” she said. “But I was so thankful for that. It was just great.”

Saraya’s moment may have come years ago, but her story proves not every goodbye in wrestling has to be silent. Vince McMahon made sure she got a mic, a live crowd, and a chance to speak her truth—and now she’s making sure fans know how rare that is. In an industry where women are too often brushed aside, Saraya’s farewell was more than just a goodbye—it was a statement.

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