10 Women Released By WWE in Latest "Fire Sale"

So on Wednesday, I read on Twitter that a batch of releases could be coming to WWE. Uh-oh. I hate these. I hate any releases from WWE, even the sample-sized ones from a few years back, because one of them was always someone I was a fan of. Lately, the releases have come in immensely huge bunches, nearly 20 all at once. I refer to them as "fire sales"; named after the "Going out of business, everything must go" sales at stores. The following day, the releases were handed out--18 of them, ten of them being from the women's roster. Oh boy. So let's analyze them.

The biggest release out of the 10 women had to be Nia Jax, as she was the longest tenured out of the group of women who got the proverbial axe. Nia joined WWE all the way back in 2014, beginning her run on NXT as the villainous powerhouse bodyguard to Eva Marie before being called up to the Raw roster in 2016. Following an alliance with Alexa Bliss, Nia received her biggest elevation when she turned face against Bliss and successfully defeated her for the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34 in 2018. She ended up losing the title back to Bliss two months later, and four months after that, Nia turned heel again and formed an alliance with real-life cousin Tamina Snuka. Nia would make history at the 2019 Royal Rumble event; becoming the fourth woman to compete in the Men's Rumble, and the first to compete in both Rumble matches on the same night.

The last year and a half of Nia's tenure saw her paired up with Shayna Baszler, which resulted in the duo holding the Women's Tag Team Championship twice. It was during the tail end of their second reign that things became contentious between them, and after they lost the belts, the friction increased to a point where they faced each other one-on-one, with Shayna winning and brutally attacking and injuring Nia (in storyline). Hours after Nia's release, it was stated that her release was due to her refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine, and it was out that she was one of five released for that reason.

Ember Moon was also among the batch of releases, ending her WWE run at six years. After competing for many years as Athena, Ember was signed by WWE in 2015, and went on to capture the NXT Women's Championship at a Takeover event in November 2017. After losing the title to Shayna Baszler, Ember was called up to the Raw roster, but her time in the main roster was riddled with injuries, coming just as she was about to be elevated. After months of inactivity on the main roster, Ember returned to NXT with a new theme and a Mad Max-esque look, and her second tenure saw her and Shotzi Blackheart capture the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship.

After losing the belts, Ember went on a losing skid that led to her stating in an interview that she may need to undergo a drastic change. Many fans saw it as the beginning of Ember turning heel, but that wouldn't be the case; she simply disappeared from TV for months, and then the release happened.

The release that angers me the most is Franky Monet. To say I'm a huge fan of Franky (who will always be Taya Valkyrie to me) is an understatement. Her time in Lucha Underground finally allowed me to watch her on actual television, as I had known about her even back when she was showing out south of the border. As Taya Valkyrie, she had an amazing run in Impact as the longest reigning Knockouts Champion in the company's existence. Franky Monet has always been an amazing villainess, and in spite of her immense natural heel look, she's been an amazing babyface as well. So you can imagine my elation when she finally joined WWE.

Franky Monet's debut came on April 13, 2021, and in her time there, she took full control of the Robert Stone Brand, and took in Jessi Kamea under her wing. I enjoyed every minute she was on, I drank in her matches, and I was elated that she had an opportunity at the NXT Women's Championship. I was expecting a lot from Franky Monet in due time, but the proverbial axe dropped, and this comes one week after her WWE t-shirt (which I ordered) was released! I know that Taya will shine wherever she goes, I have no doubt about that. I just hate that she only had just under seven months in WWE, and was cut before she had the chance to really show out.

Scarlett's release also upset me, as I'm a big fan of hers as well. I loved her in Impact, and when I heard about Scarlett being signed by WWE, I was elated. We would see her with her real-life fiance, Karrion Kross (who I'm also a fan of and was also released), and I just really ate it up. Scarlett reminded me a bit of Ariel (Shelly Martinez's character in ECW) with her somewhat spooky and sadistic look, and I absolutely loved watching her. I was anxious to see Scarlett actually compete in matches, because we all know that she can go in the ring, but not only did that not happen, she was separated from Kross altoether when he was called up. What?!

Eva Marie was also among the 10 women released, but despite being a huge fan of hers, that release is the only one I'm not upset about. The reasons are simple: I knew that Eva's second tenure wouldn't be long, and Eva has a lot of other things going for her, so I have no need to really worry about what she'll do next. Eva's return was announced in October 2020, and in May of 2021, episodes of Raw began to feature vignettes promoting Eva's return to WWE. On June 14, 2021, Eva Marie returned to Raw in her familiar role as a villainess; portraying the evil mentor to Piper Niven (who was making her main roster debut), who was later renamed, Doudrop, by Eva.

The angle saw Doudrop used by Eva to do her dirty work, with Eva taking all of the credit for her success. The pair engaged in an interesting feud with Alexa Bliss, which led to Eva losing to Bliss at SummerSlam, after which Doudrop--having had enough of Eva's antics--turned on her. Eva lost back-to-back matches to her former protege, and her last appearance saw her attacked and injured (the latter in storyline) by Shayna Baszler.

The other five releases included Mia Yim, B-Fab, Katrina Cortez, Zayda Ramier, and Jessi Kamea. Mia had been in WWE for three years, competing mostly on NXT until being called up in the summer of 2020 and becoming one of two female members of the villainous RETRIBUTION faction, under the name Reckoning. The angle fizzled out after several months, and Mia was set to be part of the SmackDown roster under her previous name, but we would never see her. Jessi Kamea joined WWE in 2017, but her first big angle came as part of the Robert Stone Brand, which later saw her under the tutelage of Franky Monet.

B-Fab's release also makes little sense. She was the sole female member of the Hit Row faction, which I love because, IMO, it's WWE's version of Wild 'N Out. Hit Row was originally a villainous faction, but they became faces due to their feud with Legado del Fantasma, which included B-Fab's only singles match on NXT: a Street Fight against Elektra Lopez. The faction was called up to SmackDown in this year's draft, making B-Fab's release very baffling. As for Zayda and Katrina, they didn't make a lot of TV appearances, and Katrina was mainly seen on 205 Live, but that doesn't make the releases any less damning and baffling.

The worst part about these releases is that there's not really any other alternatives left. Ring of Honor is no more, and not everybody can be All Elite (their women's division is stacked enough as it is). As I said before, I wouldn't be surprised if Franky Monet returns to Impact. Eva has her acting career, and I can't see Nia wrestling anywhere else. Even so, that leaves seven other women, and other than AEW, the only other main options are Impact and NWA. This has been a terrible year for releases, over 70 wrestlers released from WWE, and too many good women's talent. This is a year that has seen Mickie James, the IIconics, Lana, Franky Monet, Mia Yim, and Scarlett among the released talents. That's catastrophic on so many levels.