Renee Young reveals what led to her finally leaving WWE
Renee Young took the whole wrestling community by surprise last month when she decided to part ways with WWE. Her last appearance for WWE came at SummerSlam 2020. Throughout her eight-year-long journey with WWE, Renee Young had various roles in the company. From a backstage interviewer to a commentator to the host of WWE panel shows and WWE Backstage, Renee Young did it all.
Appearing on Sunday Night's Main Event podcast, Renee Young finally spoke about her decision to leave WWE and what were the reasons behind the same.
"I've been there for eight years and I kinda did everything I could possibly do. I felt like I was bouncing around and continually trying to carve this path out for myself and I feel like I hit my ceiling. My strength is being a TV host and as I've realized more and more that after doing commentary for a year plus, that was really rocky for me. I didn't enjoy doing it and then not really having a solid role on SmackDown when I was listed as being a Special Contributor, whatever that's supposed to mean. Then that never actually turned out to mean something."
Renee Young revealed how she felt like WWE did not have any proper plans for her and there was nothing for her to do after WWE Backstage was canceled. Renee Young further mentioned that she did not want to waste any more time and thought that it was time to move on.
"I felt like they didn't know what to do with me either. Just having me on TV and doing backstage interviews again felt like a step back and there was just nowhere for me to go. There was nothing for me to do anymore especially when Backstage got canceled with FS1. I was really enjoying doing that and I'm gonna still be doing stuff with FOX going forward so that's really cool. I feel like I had checked all of the boxes and I turned over every card that I could there. I didn't want to waste any more time. I'm about to turn 35 and I've done a bunch of stuff there so it's time to move on. If I wanna keep growing and getting better and finding a bigger platform to be on, I felt like that wasn't the place to do it anymore." (h/t WrestlingInc)
Renee Young reveals whether contracting COVID-19 influenced her decision
Renee Young revealed that since she was not a "wrestling talent", she always felt underutilized. She mentioned how she did not get all the opportunities because she did not wrestle.
Renee Young then spoke about how she got COVID and her show WWE Backstage got canceled the same day. But she clarified that COVID was not the reason why she decided to leave.
"Those things happened the same day. I tweeted it out, 'My show got cancelled and I got COVID' so it was everything happening at once. But [COVID] definitely wasn't pushed me out the door. Many people got COVID – all around the world. Does it suck to get it? For sure, but that wasn't the thing where I got sick so I'm gonna quit. It was not that at all. It was, 'I'm sick and at I'm at home, but the show [Backstage] that was supposed to be my big show on FOX that I was pushed really hard to get out there and be a part of that show.' To have that be cancelled, that's when it was, 'Well f***, now what am I supposed to do?'"
There has been speculation that Renee Young could be joining her husband Jon Moxley in All Elite Wrestling. While that surely could be a possibility in the future, it won't be happening anytime soon because of Renee Young's non-compete clause with WWE.