Talent releases in WWE were a regular occurrence when Vince McMahon was in charge. We thought that had changed on Triple H's watch, though the company still occasionally cleans house, and 2025 has seen two significant batches of main roster and NXT firings.
Back in February, Elektra Lopez was quietly moved to the "Alumni" section on WWE.com, with various outlets later confirming that she'd joined the list of WWE Superstars who'd been released (Sonya Deville, Giovanni Vinci, and Blair Davenport were among the other surprises at the time).
Serving as a manager for Legado del Fantasma, Lopez last wrestled on the December 6 edition of SmackDown in a Triple Threat match with Tiffany Stratton and Naomi. Her final singles bout was in September for a WWE Speed match against Kairi Sane.
She continued to appear in backstage segments, though, and has now broken her silence on parting ways wth the sports entertainment giant.
"I was super surprised because I was just on TV that Friday. It was out of nowhere. I was at TV on Friday and we had just gotten assigned a new writer. I was super excited. I had been pitching ideas for months. I was saying I wanted to be on live events and wanted to work with girls because I want to wrestle. I don't want to just manage."
"I don't mind managing, but I want to be able to do both because of how it was when I was in NXT, I was mostly managing them and I wanted it to be different because I wanted to wrestle. I can wrestle and when I tried out, I tried out as a wreslter, not as a manger. I can do both and have no problem doing that, but I also wanted to build a name for myself, not just be in the shadows of the boys."
"I was on TV that Friday. People were getting released while we were at work. 'Oh shit, maybe I dodged this bullet this round.' I get home and it was maybe 2:30 in the afternoon and I get a call, and they told me the news. No reason given. Nothing. Again, I'm not saying anything bad about anybody, I don't want that to be misconstrued, but I had worked so hard for this and I feel like I wasn't given a fair opportunity. If I were given an opportunity and I failed, I can understand it, but you didn't really give me an opportunity to show you what I can do when I'm more than just a manager."
"You brought me up to be in the role and put me in a box and then you cut me because it didn't work out. You didn't let me open that box and show you what I can do. I was very surprised. Got no explanation as to what the reason was. I was very shocked. It was a year to the day that I had gotten called up to the main roster."
It's hard not to feel for Lopez, but this often happens in WWE. Someone is given a very specific spot on the main roster, and it becomes nearly impossible for them to break out of that. Ultimately, being allied with Legado del Fantasma did the former WWE Superstar no favours.
You can hear more from Lopez on her WWE release and what's next for her in the player below.