Former WWE Divas Champion Kelly Kelly has opened up about her departure from WWE in September 2012, admitting in a new interview that she was not surprised when she received the call that she was being released. At the time, her release was a surprise to many fans, as she had been the top woman in the company just one year prior. However, Kelly explained that she was in a different place in her life and had been “slacking off.”
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on the “Insight” podcast, Kelly Kelly was asked if she had the opportunity to say goodbye to anyone in WWE before her exit. “No, I know I got a call on my off day, yeah,” she recalled. “I was like, I get it, I feel like I kind of have been slacking off too. And they were like, look, we know you want to do other things, go do them. We want to see you happy. We can tell you’re not very happy here right now.”
She explained that her change in attitude was due to her being in a new relationship at the time. “And because I was happy not being on the road because I was seeing somebody. So I was like, Okay, I want to put time and effort into this,” she said. Kelly, who was still in her mid-20s at the time.
“And it’s like in your 20s, I was so young when I started that. I was 19, right? So I grew up in front of the WWE. I feel like my college experiences would have been in the WWE,” she explained. “So I had fun. I look back and I don’t regret anything. I was like this was how I was meant to grow up. I grew so much in such a young age and I saw the world. I got to do so many things. And, yeah, it was just so lucky and blessed to be able to do that. I think when I was about 25-26 it was like, Okay, let’s kind of see what else is out there and explore.”
Her last televised singles match was against Eve Torres, a bout she remembered because it was a surprise return after she had been out with a neck injury. “So TV was Eve Torres, but the last one was Nattie on a house show. I remember the TV match because it was a secret, because I had been out for a while. I’ve been out because I had hurt my neck, and so I was taking some time off. They called me and they were like, ‘Are you ready to come back?’ And I was like, Yeah. And they were like, ‘We want you to be a surprise.’ So they didn’t announce me, and I had my Match with Eve and came out, and I think that was it,” she recalled.
Since her departure, Kelly Kelly has made several sporadic appearances for WWE, including competing in multiple Royal Rumble matches. In another part of the same interview, she also addressed her absence from the recent Evolution 2 premium live event, clarifying that it was due to family commitments and not any issues with the company. The full interview with Kelly Kelly can be seen on “Insight with Chris Van Vliet.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
