Former WWE Star Xia Li Set To Make MMA Debut In August

Former WWE star Xia Li was unfortunately released by the promotion in April 2024, ending a seven-year tenure. Despite this setback, Li hasn't given up on pursuing combat sports, and is already set to make her transition into MMA. According to an Instagram post, Li — under her real name Zhao Xia — will take on Xiomara Lee at a Combat Night MMA event, on August 3, 2024. As mentioned, considering that this will be Li's MMA debut, her performance will likely heavily affect her wrestling persona going forward, but this will be a chance for her to gain some legitimacy after WWE let her go.

Additionally, Li's wrestling aspirations are not over either, as it was announced that she's also set to appear at West Coast Pro Wrestling's Queen of Indies event on August 17, where she'll compete under the slightly adjusted name, Xia Lee. It remains to be seen if her gimmick will be similar to what she had in WWE, or whether her new character will be slightly adjusted as well.

Hopefully for the star, her time away from WWE will allow her to grow and flourish in the wrestling industry. Notably, according to reports, the decision to cut Li and others at the time was due to a combination of many different factors, but mainly due to the stars all lacking progress over their respective stints. Due to this, her performance at Queen of Indies could determine whether or not WWE made the right call with her, or if she was actually being stifled by the promotion instead.