Mandy Rose Fires Back On Surprise WWE Release In December 2022

2022 was one of the most eventful years in WWE's long history, but the release of former NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose in mid-December was extremely shocking and she remains bewildered at the turn of events.

Speaking with the New York Post, Rose noted that while she has appreciation for what WWE has done for her pro wrestling careers, she does not feel as if she deserved getting the axe for having another source of income outside of pro wrestling.

"I am grateful and very humbled with everything I've done and made at the company [WWE], but in today's day and age, there are so many other avenues and so many other marketing opportunities, it's like why can't I do both?" Rose asked.

"At the end of the day I'm the only one watching out for myself and my career. Everyone's replaceable in our business–it's true."

The former major NXT women's star was set to defend her title against Roxanne Perez on the December 13 episode of NXT and while she was originally going to retain, plans changed ahead of the match.

According to pro wrestling insiders at the time, Rose was completely aware that WWE's upper management had become aware of her FanTime page and was initially okay with it as the company had been loosening its grip on performers earning from third-party platforms.

However, the content that she had been posting on the page grew more explicit in nature and continued to push the envelope which had the higher-ups eventually deciding to lay the hammer down.

In Rose's eyes though, her release was as hypocritical as it could get since WWE was completely okay with her posing nude with the NXT and NXT UK women's titles the only things covering her up–a homage of sorts to Shawn Michaels' own picture from the past.

"I wasn't told about racy images. I wasn't told about anything else. I was told about the subscription-based platform. What's the definition of racy? The photo of me with two titles–I was completely naked underneath, that's considered a racy photo, right?" Rose stated in the same interview.

While fans have been sharing their support for Rose, the fact is that WWE has fully leaned into its PG-13 TV rating and her private FanTime photos being leaked to the public left the company with no choice.

Because Rose knew that she was playing with fire from the beginning, making a case for her to remain with the company despite what happened is a hard sell for those within the company.