Nia Jax has claimed that she wasn’t consulted about being released by WWE, explaining that her vaccination status was never mentioned as part of the process.
On November 4th, Nia Jax was among 18 WWE Superstars released by the company. It was initially reported that the releases were part of budget cuts, the same reason given for the other departures that have been made throughout the year.
However, it was later suggested that at least five of the talents who had been released were “openly unvaccinated.” It was noted that Nia Jax was one of these talents.
Taking to social media in the wake of her release, Nia Jax said that she had been taking a break from WWE in order to look after her mental health. WWE then sent her a schedule to return to action on November 15th. At this point Jax says that she asked for an extension to her break.
In her statement, Jax claims that she was then informed about her release, “without consultation.” In addition she explained that her vaccination status wasn’t mentioned.
Nia Jax had been with WWE since 2014. After appearing on NXT, Jax moved to the main roster two years later. During her time with the company Jax won the Raw Women’s Championship once, and the Women’s Tag Team Championship twice.
Throughout 2021 WWE have significantly trimmed their talent roster with multiple big names leaving the company. This followed on from the previous year where as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Superstars were also released. Some stars such as Bryan Danielson chose to leave of their own volition while others were let go in multiple batches of releases across the year.
The first round of releases came in April with the likes of Samoa Joe, Mickie James and Chelsea Green departing the company. In the weeks that followed Samoa Joe was re-hired, while Paul Wight, aka The Big Show left the company in February.
This was followed in June by arguably the most shocking round of releases, as Braun Strowman, Aleister Black (Malakai Black) Lana (CJ Perry) and Ruby Riott (Ruby Soho) left the company. Later in the month more departures followed, this time with Tony Nese, Tyler Breeze and Ariya Daivari heading out the door.
The final large scale round of releases came in August with a number of NXT Superstars exiting what was the black and gold brand. It later came to light the that releases were the beginnings of a revamp which has since seen the launch of NXT 2.0. On this occasion, Mercedes Martinez, Bronson Reed and Bobby Fish were among the departures.
Elsewhere, Bray Wyatt was released at the end of July, while Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole made their way to AEW after their contracts expired.