Zoey Serrano says Becky Lynch, CM Punk and Cody Rhodes all reached out to her during her rehab and after her WWE release, and that Lynch was among the first calls she made when the news came.
Serrano, who worked in WWE as Zoey Stark, was released in April 2026 as part of the company’s cuts following WrestleMania 42. She had been out of action since May 19, 2025, when she tore her ACL, MCL and meniscus in a Money in the Bank qualifying match on Raw against Kairi Sane and Rhea Ripley. She had been reported medically cleared shortly before she was let go.
Speaking to Denise Salcedo for Instinct Culture, in an interview, Serrano started with Lynch.
“Becky was one of the first people that reached out to me and helped me during rehab. When I got released, literally, I would call her. In fact, she was one of the first people that I called. I told her immediately. She immediately picked up the phone and was like, ‘This is what I can do for you and let’s figure this out together.’ So Becky, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And she still helps me out today.”
The relationship is not the one WWE television built. Serrano spent much of her 2023 main roster run aligned with Trish Stratus against Lynch, and interfered in the Stratus and Lynch steel cage match at Payback that year.
Serrano then turned to Punk, who returned to WWE television in July after a long absence of his own and won the Undisputed WWE Championship in Chicago.
“Same thing with CM Punk. He reached out to me throughout my entire rehab journey. He reached out when I got released. To have these friendships that I thought I would never have, those are the moments that I actually really do hold near and dear.”
She said she was reluctant to keep listing names but wanted to make the point about the locker room generally. She credited Rhodes with going through a video she had posted about her plans and walking her through it.
“… I don’t want to just keep name-dropping, but I also don’t want to leave people out because I think it’s important for people know that everyone there has hearts and they’re great people. Cody reaching out and helped me with my journey. I posted a video about what was next and he watched that entire thing and helped break everything down for me, and I learned a lot from just from that.”
“Everyone has been so supportive during this, and it made the release just a little bit easier.”
Punk and Rhodes meet tonight in the main event of night one of SummerSlam, with Punk defending the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Serrano completed her 90-day non-compete and returned to the ring on July 25 at the RevPro Women’s Grand Prix, losing to Zeuxis in the first round before beating JGU on the second show of the day. It was her first match in over 14 months. She is booked for WrestleCon during SummerSlam weekend along with dates for C4 Wrestling, IWS, FSW and SMASH.
She is now working under her own surname, billed as The Purist.
