Mandy Rose “Caught Off Guard” By WWE Firing

A suggestion has been made that former NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose was as surprised as everyone else to find out she was being released by WWE.

Mandy Rose’s 413-day NXT Women’s Championship reign came to an end on the 13th of December edition of NXT when she lost to Roxanne Perez. Perez earned her shot at Rose’s gold by winning the Iron Survivor Challenge match at NXT Deadline but it was widely believed that she would be challenging Rose at New Year’s Evil on January 10th. That is when men’s Iron Survivor Challenge winner Grayson Waller will face Bron Breakker for the NXT Title.

The decision to have Perez defeat Mandy Rose for the title was called “abrupt” in the report from Fightful Select that broke the news that Rose was leaving WWE. It is believed that the “explicit nature” of content Rose has shared on a subscription website is behind the release with WWE management believing that the content goes beyond the parameters of her WWE deal.

The Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez has shone some light on if Rose expected to be let go as he has said:

“She was very much caught off guard by the firing.”

Mandy Rose was still active on her social media account, responding to comments about her NXT match just three hours before the news broke that she was no longer part of WWE.