WWE: Rayne Leverkusen Reportedly Believed To Have Signed WWE Contract, Lita on Being Open To Potential In-Ring Return & Way Her Last WWE Run Ended Felt “Weird”, Backstage Update on Ava’s WWE Departure

Rayne Leverkusen Reportedly Believed To Have Signed WWE Contract

European indies talent Rayne Leverkusen reportedly is currently believed to have recently signed a contract with WWE, according to Fightful Select.

It was reported that their sources stated that the current belief is that Leverkusen signed with WWE following this past August’s talent tryouts in New Jersey. WWE had publicly named Leverkusen their MVP star of the tryouts that week.

Speculation of Leverkusen’s signing grew over her dropping several of her titles in recent weeks. Most recently, Leverkusen dropped her Hustle Championship at this past Thursday’s event and gave her farewell to the company.

It is currently not known if Leverkusen is in the process of moving to the United States nor a potential start date for her at WWE’s Performance Center.

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Lita Comments on Being Open To Potential In-Ring Return & Way Her Last WWE Run Ended Felt “Weird”

The Toronto Sun held a recent interview with WWE Hall of Famer Lita. One of the topics discussed included Lita’s thoughts about her interest in making a potential in-ring return to WWE in the future. Lita also gave her thoughts about how the way her last WWE run in 2023 ended felt “weird” to her.

“I feel complete. I was really happy to have the singles match with Becky (Lynch) and then to be able to get in there Trish (Stratus) and Becky and go against Damage CTRL. It was pretty awesome and I feel very satisfied in that, but, it was a little weird the way it ended where I had this really fun, celebratory match at WrestleMania and then the next thing I know, they’re like, ‘Oh, by the way, you’re just gonna be laying on the ground and we don’t need you anymore’ and I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ It felt complete and then it didn’t. Just the way things kind of ended. Am I still satisfied with all I’ve accomplished and even just the stuff I’ve been able to do post-full-time run? Absolutely. But, yeah, I wouldn’t rule it out if the right opportunity came because I still feel really good and there’s so much talent out there. It’s always fun to mix it up with the current roster.”

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Backstage Update on Ava’s WWE Departure

As noted before, former NXT General Manager Ava, real name Simone Garcia Johnson, departed from WWE at the end of this past January due to her not renewing her contract with the company.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources confirmed that it was 100 percent Ava’s decision to leave WWE. Those spoken to reportedly stated that WWE officials did not have any plans of moving Ava to the main roster due to they are happy with Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis in their respective roles as GMs of RAW and SmackDown.

Meltzer reported that Ava also made the decision to not do any kind of farewell angle for her departure from WWE and once she made her decision to leave, she was done with the company.

Bryan Alvarez reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Live that his sources stated that one of the main reasons for Ava’s decision to leave WWE was due to WWE had low balled her for their offer for a potential new deal. Alvarez reported that Ava had been making a certain amount of money and had been in WWE’s NXT brand for a long time but WWE’s offer did not include a big pay raise to keep her on the brand and in the company.

Alvarez reported that Ava did not want to keep doing her job with WWE for the money she was making and that played a role in her decision to leave.

Alvarez also reported that this issue of stagnated pay for talent has been a growing trend within WWE’s NXT brand and developmental system.