The last time we saw Carmella on WWE programming was when the former SmackDown Women's Champion Carmella faced Bianca Belair during a March 2023 episode of RAW. She initially took time off due to pregnancy but remains sidelined thanks to a nasty-sounding non-wrestling injury.
Last year, Carmella (a.k.a. Leah Van Dale) confirmed that she was dealing with two herniated discs in her back, as well as issues in her foot, which are directly related to that problem. It's a condition commonly known as "Drop Foot", and typically occurs while giving birth.
The former WWE Superstar hasn't shied away from criticising WWE's decision not to bring her back into the fold, claiming she was "ghosted" and that it felt like she was being "punished because I had a baby."
Those are some serious allegations to make, particularly when her husband, Corey Graves, still works for WWE. Now, she appears to have dialled back the severity of those claims during a recent podcast appearance.
"A trailer for anything, whether it’s a TV show, a podcast, or a movie, is supposed to get people talking and intrigued, and that’s what the trailer did," she said of the comments that quickly went viral. "When that little teaser reel dropped, people were just taking the things that were said out of context. If you actually listen to the entire podcast, you know what I was saying."
"I wasn’t at all saying anything bad about WWE. I’m so grateful for my time at WWE," Carmella continued. "Eventually I’m going to leave WWE. There’s no way I can work there forever. For me personally, I was just a little upset and hurt, I guess, with how it ended, but it was going to end no matter what. I was just a little hurt with how it ended. That’s all."
For the wrestler, it seems the lack of advance notice from WWE was the biggest issue for her. "I feel like at the moment it was very jarring and I was shocked because I didn’t get a lot of notice. To me, that’s what kind of was like, 'Wow.'"
"Everyone’s gonna have their opinion and that’s fine," Carmella added, "but I’m so happy. Everything happens for a reason. I feel so blessed. I’m so grateful for my time in WWE."
You can watch the full interview with Carmella about the end of her time in WWE in the player below.