Jazzy Gabert Opens Up About Why She Asked For Her WWE Release
After about one year with NXT UK, Jazzy Gabert departed WWE last month citing other interests. She talked about the difficulty in leaving WWE when she joined The Wrestling Inc Daily.
"It was difficult because WWE was always my dream since I was a little kid. But to be honest, NXT UK was so different from SmackDown or Raw which is what I was dreaming of. I asked if there was a chance to move up and their typical answer was that creative had nothing for you," stated Gabert.
"I had just one month with NXT UK so we had the Performance Center for 10 days and then tapings. But for me that was not enough. I want to do it full time and be on the road all the time. So I was searching for other projects doing TV stuff and acting. It was successful and they were like, 'Wow! You're awesome and we really want to work with you.' It was all or nothing so I had to make the decision and it was hard."
Gabert was offered a WWE contract after the 2017 Mae Young Classic but they then rescinded the offer after seeing her medical records. She talked about the neck issues she had and why wrestling made them worse.
"I just came off an injury. Before my injury I was in so much pain and walking around with a bad neck. But I didn't know it because I thought, 'Hey I'm a wrestler ? of course I'm in pain.' Then I signed a contract in 2017 and [testing] found out that I had a bad neck and I had surgery," recalled Gabert.
"Right after surgery the next day there was zero pain. In 2018 the whole year I was not in pain. Then in 2019 I sign with WWE and I'm in the ring and going to the gym and I'm hurting again. I'm like, 'Wow! I miss not being in pain.' I love this business so much but I love being pain-free too and it wasn't worth it."
Gabert said that the sacrifice she was putting in to NXT UK was not worth it to jeopardize her health and the low pay she received solidified her belief that it wasn't worth it.
Gabert is six feet tall and over 200 pounds so she's not the size of the typical WWE Women's Superstar. She was asked if WWE could do a better job of catering to women of all sizes.
"Absolutely. Nia Jax was doing a great job until she got hurt. But just imagine beating up all these girls and being a legit heel," Gabert said while inserting herself into a storyline. "Then one day, another big girl, maybe me, comes in and challenges her. People want to see that? There's so much potential in stuff like that."
For a while there was a shift to smaller, more athletic men's wrestlers and now it appears that tide is turning back to the big, physical type of wrestlers. Gabert is also a promoter and she discussed using larger men in her shows.
"I'm doing my own show and I have a lot of big guys. My main event is going to be two big guys banging heads. I tell my boys 'Don't kill yourself. You don't have to.' It's more important to see characters," Gabert said before noting that Germans remember Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior who were big scary big men. She added that her native Germans would be disappointed with how many small wrestlers there are at the moment.
"If you bring back the fear to people ? for example ? if you look at Brock Lesnar you would say, 'Oh, I don't wanna mess with him.' But if you look at Finn Balor ? I don't say anything bad of him ? but if a normal person looks at him, they wouldn't be scared of him," revealed Gabert. "I think we need this back and the over the top characters like Tatanka and Doink the Clown."
Follow Jazzy on Twitter @Jazzy_Gabert. Gabert's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of Monday's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon: by clicking here. The full interview can be heard via the embedded audio player below: