All Elite Wrestling star Tay Conti has opened up about her rocky tenure as a WWE employee.
While appearing as a guest on the most recent edition of the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Conti explained that she felt like WWE was under-utilizing her. The 25-year-old Brazilian says she became disillusioned as a result, and repeatedly asked the company if they would release her from her contract.
“I was so unhappy there that I didn’t have any plans. I was just like, I want to get out of here. I’m not happy, and I never thought about, oh, what am I gonna do if they give me my release? I never thought about it. I was like, I just need to be done with them, and of course, they said no a couple times," Conti recalled. "We were having a bunch of meetings. I was like, nope, I’m just done. Please let me go. So at the last one, they told me, ‘No, you’re not going,’ and they mentioned AEW," she claimed.
Tay Conti Jumped Ship To AEW
As you might recall, Conti was eventually released from her WWE contract on April 20, 2020, as a result of budget cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On September 9, AEW announced that Conti had signed with the company.
Conti later said that she learned to stick up for herself while at WWE, but also stressed that she was grateful to the company for taking a chance on her.
“Honestly, I learned a lot. First of all, I learned that I need to speak up when I’m not happy, not in a bad way but in a nice way," Conti said. "I was holding for so long, and I was accepting everything that people told me that hurt me and everything that I never said [anything]. When I started talking, that’s when things were ugly there because when you speak up there, that’s when people are like, ‘Oh, why are you doing this? You should be quiet.’ And I learned a lot about the business like how to be respectful? A lot of people there were really important to me to help me grow a lot."
Conti has improved as an in-ring performer exponentially since parting ways with WWE. She has become one of AEW's most exciting young talents, and surely has a bright future with the company. And maybe one day she'll return to Orlando to show everyone what they were missing.
(H/T Wrestling INC)