On May 2nd, WWE made a round of releases that included Cora Jade. Cora competed at NXT Stand & Deliver and was regularly on television in a storyline with Roxanne Perez.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The Ariel Helwani Show, Cora detailed her WWE release and the events leading up to it.
"Obviously, the initial shock of it all, even though I feel like I knew it was coming. I'm just really weird with my intuition. I always have been and I've always had this gut feeling. I want to say, November, I had a feeling that I was going to be gone. It's always up and down. When it's good, it's good. Maybe two weeks before the cuts, it was Vegas, I was like, 'I'm going to make it good because I'm not coming back here.' I just had that gut feeling. Obviously, you don't want it to be right, 'Don't manifest it,' but I always had that gut feeling. That day, I was going to hang out with [Blair Davenport] and she called and said, 'Josh [Riley Osborne] just got fired,' her husband. 'Okay, I'll keep my ringer on.' Sure as hell, two minutes later, I got the call. 'Okay.' It is what it is," she said.
Asked why she felt like she was on thin ice in November, Cora replied, "Coming back from a knee injury was crazy. I've never experienced anything like that. I didn't play sports before wresting, so I never had a major injury that I had to come back from. Even just getting a month after that and feeling like I was in a good place, I had a conversation with somebody, who I won't name, but someone I kind of feel I would have had a better experience there if it wasn't for, not Shawn [Michaels] or Hunter [Triple H] or anybody, I can't praise them enough, but there was a conversation with somebody where I was like, 'Okay, this is probably going to be weird in a few months,' and it was."
Cora was asked if it was unsettling.
She replied, "Yeah, at times. I feel I can look at it and things I could have changed or done differently. When you think about it, there is nothing. I was there every day. I was cleaning up the locker room with Roxanne [Perez] after the shows because we're from indie wrestling and that's what you do. Until the day I was gone, that's just what you do. You can always look at it and think what you can do different, but at the end of the day, I feel comforable in the fact that I got to do so much stuff with my best friend and so many of my best friends and I feel confident that I stood on my morales and things I spoke up about that maybe other people wouldn't have."
Asked what she spoke up about, Cora referenced her body shaming tweet where she wrote, "can’t forget having to go to my own gym outside of work after “strength and conditioning” that wasn’t doing anything for me other than get me body shamed by my bosses, coworkers, and fans :) crazy!"
"I'll say this because I did put it out there; the body shaming stuff. I don't want this to be a bash WWE because it was my dream and still is my dream. I have no doubt, maybe one day in the near future, I'll be there again, but it is what it is. Thinking about...my dream was to be a WWE Superstar. Then, I become a WWE Superstar and I accomplish all these goals and meet all these people, me and Roxanne became closer than ever doing these storylines. I got to work with Bayley, who is a hero of mine. [CM] Punk is a mentor to me now. I got to do so much, so I don't want it to be bash WWE at all because I'm so happy with my time there. I did so much stuff that I was writing about in my notebook as a kid. I definitely think things could have went differently if it wasn't for certain things, like the body-shaming thing. I came in at 19 years old. I was 110 pounds and so small. It was constant comments, whether it was guys who think they're being funny or, I'm not going to name names, but I remember specifically being told that I wasn't and wouldn't be champion in that company because I look like I couldn't crack an egg," she said.
Cora's tweet was sparked after Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer said about the releases, "Many of those cut were perceived as not working hard in training. And if you don't work hard in training, there's so many people who do. And at this point, if the feeling is you're not working hard in training - I saw the term 'lazy' - the ones who are lazy are gonna be gone, and the ones who didn't stand out are gonna be gone."
Cora continued, "Multiple conversations about my body. I don't think anyone, especially a man, should be saying that to a female. Especially because I was so young. It created a lot of issues for me, body-wise. I gained so much muscle after that. I worked my ass off. I would go to the strength and conditioning classes, which, in my opinion, are more geared towards college athletes and people coming in from college and working on that kind of strength and conditioning. It never felt like it was doing anything for my body. If you guys are yelling at me for how I look, but you're not really helping me out in the strength and conditioning that I need, then I would just go to my other gym afterwards. I was working my ass off. Seeing [the report about released talents not working hard], if you only knew what I dealt with and how much I had to progress because of those things. People say so much and when you finally say something back, they're like, 'Woah.' God forbid I say something back. Again, I don't want it to seem like I'm bashing WWE because I loved my time there, I really did. I loved everybody there, but there were certain things and specifics where I'm like, 'Damn, this is my dream. I didn't go to college. I dropped out of high school at 15 and did a year online so I could start wrestling training.' I don't know anything else. It is defeating when things like that happen. You can only look at it as things happen for a reason. That's how I feel."
Asked if she was feeling better about things during WrestleMania week, she replied, "Honestly, it's so weird because I say I had that first feeling in November that I was getting fired, but I will say, for some reason, even though I had that in the back of my head all the time, those last six months of my career there was the best times I ever had. I don't know if it was because in the back of my head I thought I was going to get fired, so I was just trying to live it up while I can and really soak it in and enjoy it, but those last six months, from October to May, those are the best times I had. I got to work with Bayley, I became super close with Stephanie [Vaquer] and Giulia. Roxanne is my best friend. We got to do so much stuff together inside and outside the ring that, I'm so happy I had those last six months and I'm so glad that ended there with all that. It had such a good ending for me."
Cora reiterated that she was headed to Blair Davenport's place to hang out when she got the call.
Asked if she was given a reason, she replied, "I asked. I said, 'Is there a specific reason or budget cuts?' because that's what they typically say. They said, 'It was a company decision.' I'm not going to sit there and argue with them. It is what it is."
Cora has already been announced for multiple independent dates, reverting back to her Elayna Black name that she used prior to joining WWE.
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