After being away from the WWE scene for almost a couple of years, Carmella is officially done with the company, at least for the time being. With the general assumption being there for the former champion to return to the scene after enjoying a long maternity hiatus, the company ultimately decided to expire her contract instead of renewing it.
According to the reports of Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE also had the option to extend Carmella’s deal by freezing it for the time being during the two-year absence. However, the company eventually opted to go in the complete opposite direction and let her go.
“They had the right to freeze her contract due to time off, but instead decided against doing so,” Meltzer reported in the latest, talking about the departure of the Princess of Staten Island. The move became official after Carmella started to go by her real name, on her social media handles, that’s Leah Van Dale, and she quietly shifted to the Alumni Section on WWE’s website.
In more recent updates about Carmella’s exit from the WWE during a discussion over Fightful Select Q&A, Sean Ross Sapp nurtured her possible future in the company and whether she’d be back anytime soon. In his response, Sapp made it clear that a return was never on the horizon although she might show up in the distant future.
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Backstage tensions could have led to Carmella’s WWE departure
Teddy Long, a WWE veteran also believes that there may be more to Carmella’s sudden WWE exit situation than what we are seeing. Speaking on The Wrestling Time Machine, the WWE Hall of Famer praised her in-ring work and her husband Corey Graves’ commentary skills. But he also suggested that some backstage antics could have also come into play which led to the departure,
“Well I don’t really know, you know, what to say about that. I mean, as far as I know Corey Graves was doing a great job. I always liked him, you know, behind the mic. Carmella, his wife, I thought she done a great job in the ring and everything, so I really don’t know what to say. Maybe there’s some backstage heat that we don’t know about.” (quotes courtesy Ringside News)
“I Have A Lot To Say About The Situation,” Carmella On 2025 WWE Departure
