Ex-WWE Talent Says They Were “Ignored” & “Unnoticed” Prior To Release
Former NXT competitor Sloane Jacobs has discussed her release from WWE and why she felt “pointless” being there by the time she left.
Outside of WWE, the star is known as Notorious Mimi but when she joined NXT for an eight-month spell in 2022, she became known as Sloane Jacobs.
Speaking to Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, the 20-year-old star discussed how her time in the company came to an end and says she was released after a one-minute-long phone call:
“So, I was signed for, I wanna say, eight or nine months so it was from mid-March to October 31st. We love getting fired on Halloween (she laughed). I was carving a pumpkin dammit! But it was honestly an amazing experience the whole time I was down there. I got to work with the normal coaches people always bring up like Robbie Brookside, Norman Smiley, A.J. Winkler who’s from wXw in Germany and I really enjoyed learning all these super different styles.
“I feel like it expanded what I knew a lot. But I wasn’t on TV all that much as anyone who really kept up would tell you.
“I had three main TV matches and that was it the whole time I was down there and I’m not really sure – I never received particular guidance on what they wanted changed or not but, I think as most people who’ve been around the business or specifically paid attention to the way that the WWE developmental system works for a while, mass releases are a really common thing and I was one of five or six specifically on that day and definitely like one of 20 or 30 in that year that, you know, just got the boot at some point.
“They didn’t offer a ton of explanation. It was a minute-long phone call. But I (got a) call the next day from the head coach which I appreciated. Matt Bloom gave me a call and was just like, ‘Hey, we appreciated your work. You worked hard and we hope you don’t leave wrestling for this’ which I both felt very complimented by and at the same time I was like, I’m not gonna leave wrestling for this. You do not own my love for wrestling. I’m gonna wrestle anyway, thank you very much. But I really appreciated everyone there and everyone was super friendly. I just wish maybe it had gone a little longer.”
Mimi then discussed that she kept pitching things to NXT management during her time in the company but was left feeling ignored as she couldn’t get booked on live events:
“I was still 19 when I got fired (from WWE) actually. It definitely really sucked, but at the same time, part of me immediately went, I actually get to wrestle again. I was so excited because I had done nothing for three months. I pitched stuff, it had gotten ignored. I’d offer storylines, characters, stuff like that and it had gone completely unnoticed and I couldn’t even get on live events for the life of me.
“Even though I was really sad, one, I think it was kind of one of those things where you see it coming but, more so, I was just like, thank God I get to actually wrestle again because I have 13 matches in 2022 which is way low for me or something like that and I’ve already had like 30 this year.
“It’s like you feel privileged to get the training and be able to make the paycheck but at the same time, if you’re not actually producing the product, you feel kind of pointless being there.”
Notorious Mimi was recently a part of Ring of Honor tapings where she was defeated by AEW star Willow Nightingale.