Shotzi on WWE release: ‘They just didn’t think that I was money and that’s OK’
After making her return to the independents, Shotzi appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday.
She made surprise appearances for Hoodslam and GCW over the weekend. The 33-year-old told Helwani the experience was, at first, bittersweet.
“Obviously, it being my first match back to the indies, it makes it real that I’m not with WWE anymore, so it’s bittersweet. But once I made my entrance and that crowd went insane, and I just got to have a match that was stress free and just wild and balls to the wall. No one was telling me, ‘No, you cannot use glass’ or ‘No, you cannot do that crazy thing.’”
“It was a lot of fun and really helped with my confidence, already,” she added.
Asked if she had started to doubt herself, Shotzi responded:
“Yeah. You start to when you’re not being used. I haven’t really done much in the last year and a half. So it’s hard on your confidence, for sure.”
Shotzi missed 10 months in 2024 after tearing her ACL in February. She then worked in NXT until it was revealed on May 2 that her contract would not be renewed. Helwani noted that Cora Jade and Sonya Deville had ACL injuries shortly before their WWE releases as well.
“When you’re going through such a huge injury like that that puts you out for almost a year, you start getting in your head a little because you’re stuck at home, you’re still in rehab and thinking like, ‘Oh man, what if they’re not gonna use me when I get back? Like, what if it’s it for me?’ You try to stay positive and you hope that, ‘Well, if I work really hard and come back even better, maybe I’ll get rewarded for coming back from such an intense injury.’ But unfortunately for me, I was let go.”
Shotzi said she started to realize around Mania that her contract would not be renewed. She feels WWE knew for some time that she would not be re-signed, as they weren’t using her and ideas for a main roster return were consistently pushed back.
“I probably will never know why they released me, but WWE doesn’t owe me anything,” she continued. “That’s showbiz, right? They just didn’t think that I was money and that’s OK. I can take that.”
Shotzi also said she would love to return to WWE, provided she would be used.
“I would love to be back at WWE. I loved working there. I didn’t love not working there, you know what I’m saying? It was only when I wasn’t being used that I was unhappy. But anytime I was being used, good time. Loved the locker room, loved everyone I was working for.”
Shotzi also named AEW as the company she is most interested in signing with. When asked why, she answered:
“I love their freedom. I have a lot of friends there who are doing really awesome things. I’ve heard many stories of how Tony treats talent. So yeah, I do love that he really cares for his talent. That is super important to me.”
“And like, hot girls get to make out with each other,” she added with a laugh.
Shotzi has several independent events lined up in the coming months. Her next GCW booking is set for June 20. She will also debut with Maple Leaf Pro on July 5 and appear for F1rst Wrestling in September.
Her full appearance on the show is available below: