Why did Naomi leave WWE?

NAOMI was one of WWE’s most recognized professional wrestlers and dancers until she called it quits.

Here’s everything you need about the July 2023 Impact Knockouts World Champion.

AFP

Naomi pictured with her husband Jimmy Uso[/caption]

Why did Naomi leave WWE?

Naomi, real name Trinity Fatu, walked out of WWE alongside Sasha Banks in May 2022.

Naomi, alongside Banks, was suspended and stripped of her WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.

She opened up in an interview with Busted Open Radio in 2022 on why she quit her job with WWE.

She said: “Ultimately, I left that day because of the way I was talked to and handled.

“Everything kind of just broke me that day. It had nothing to do with anything else, anybody else. That was just it. I had to.

“To go through all the backlash and the negativity and the lies and the rumors and then to also kind of just feel lost, it broke me.

“It was probably the lowest I’ve ever felt in my life.

“But going through that made me reset and face it head on and figure out how to learn from this experience and grow from it [and] just find myself again in all of it”.

Reports released throughout 2022 suggested WWE wasn’t interested in booking Naomi and Banks to defend their tag titles on pay-per-view after winning them at WrestleMania 39.

Despite pitching a title defense for Hell in a Cell, the pair were instead going to be placed in separate singles matches against the two reigning Women’s Champions – Bianca Belair and Ronda Rousey – and likely lose.

Frustrated with their concerns being ignored, the pair reportedly walked out just before an episode of Raw in May 2022.

Who is Naomi’s husband Jimmy Uso?

Jimmy Uso, real name Jonathan Solofa Fatu Jr, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE.

He performs on the iconic SmackDown brand under the ring name Jimmy and is a member of The Bloodline.

Jimmy made his professional wrestling debut as a tag team named The Samoan Soldiers with his brother on December 12, 2008, at NWA Prime Time in Columbus, Georgia.

He debuted as John Fatu.

In 2009, he and his brother wrestled twice as a tag team for Xtreme Championship Wrestling (XCW) in Texas.

He then appeared at the Florida Championship Wrestling television tapings on November 5, 2009, accompanying Donny Marlow to the ring.

Alongside his brother Jey, Jimmy became an eight-time Tag Team Champion.

They made history by becoming the longest-reigning Tag Team Champions in WWE history at 622 days as part of The Bloodline.

Jimmy is a member of the legendary Samoan Anoa’i family which includes such in-ring legends as his father Rikishi, his great uncles The Wild Samoans, and The Rock.

He is married to Naomi, and the couple wed on January 16, 2014, in Maui, Hawaii.

The couple resides in Pensacola, Florida.

Who is Naomi’s former teammate Sasha Banks?

Sasha Banks, real name Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado, is an American professional wrestler and actress.

She is currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling under the ring name Mercedes Moné, where she is a former International Wrestling Grand Prix Women’s Champion.

 She is best known for her time in WWE from 2012 to 2022, where she performed under the ring name Sasha Banks.

Varnado signed with WWE in 2012 under the ring name Sasha Banks and was assigned to the developmental territory NXT where she would later win the NXT Women’s Championship.

Her match against Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Respect in October 2015 was the first women’s match to ever headline an NXT TakeOver, the first Iron Woman match in WWE history, and the longest women’s match in WWE history at the time, lasting 30 minutes.

Their match was voted by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) as Match of the Year, with Varnado also being voted as Woman of the Year.

In 2015, Varnado was promoted to WWE’s main roster, where she went on to hold the Raw Women’s Championship five times.

A year later, she and Charlotte Flair became the first women to headline a WWE pay-per-view event, the first to compete in a Hell in a Cell match, and the first to win the PWI award for Feud of the Year.

In 2019, she won the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship with tag team partner, Bayley, at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

Then in 2020, she won the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, becoming a Women’s Grand Slam Champion and Triple Crown Champion.

That year, she was named Wrestler of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

After issues arose in 2022, Varnado walked out of WWE alongside Naomi and was unable to negotiate a new contract.

She made her debut for NJPW/Stardom at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January 2023 under the ring name Mercedes Moné.

Outside of wrestling, Varnado portrays Koska Reeves in the second and third seasons of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian.

Where is Naomi now?

In 2023, Naomi signed with IMPACT Wrestling.

The former Naomi in WWE went on to defeat Deonna Purrazzo to win the Knockouts World Championship at Slammiversary.

During the interview with Busted Open Radio, she explained why she chose IMPACT out of the multiple US-based promotions.

She said: “The doors are open for me everywhere, literally everywhere but I truly feel like Impact is the best choice for me at this point in my life right now with what I want to do and to just be able to work with the talent there I feel that is where I’ll be happiest and most utilized and really get to grow in the ways that I feel that I need to right now on this wrestling journey.

“Had all of this stuff never happened, there’s no way that I would have took that leap but the situation kind of forced me to figure it out.”