Lacey Evans Officially Leaves WWE: UFC Merger Releases Beginning?

WWE has been expected to shed costs ahead of its merger with UFC.

August 16, 2023, 1:04pm

Lacey Evans has officially left WWE. Evans, real name Macey Estrella, first hinted at the news on social media on Tuesday evening, teasing that she would become at free agent when the clock struck midnight. Fightful Select has confirmed that Evans is now a free agent. Evans had been with WWE since 2016, participating in the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament where she faced current AEW stars Tay Conti and Toni Storm. Evans spent three years in developmental before she was called up to the main roster in early 2019. Evans was then utilizing the “sassy southern belle” gimmick, a throwback persona that took her to the main event of WWE Extreme Rules 2019. Her headlining title feud with then-Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch would end up being the highlight of her WWE run, as the subsequent four years were a bit of an identity crisis for Evans.

Evans spent a year on maternity leave before returning to the company in 2022 as a face, incorporating some of her real-life military history into her character. This gimmick was refined once more in 2023 where she essentially portrayed a female version of WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter. Her last bout was a WWE SmackDown dark match in July.

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More WWE Departures Coming Soon?

Based on the verbiage of Evans’s social media post, it appears that her exit from WWE was a result of her contract expiring rather than WWE releasing her. It’s worth noting that WWE is expected to officially merge with UFC next month, which has led to reports that another batch of releases is imminent.

While some reports have indicated that the bulk of these next releases will come on the corporate side of WWE, the decision to not renew Evans’s contract indicates that the company is not opposed to cutting talent costs as well. Ronda Rousey also recently wrapped her WWE commitments which likely frees up seven figures of talent spending.

WWE has not been shy about cutting talent costs in the past. During the pandemic year, WWE had three separate batches of talent releases which saw both tenured stars and former champions cut. Since Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over creative duties in Summer 2022, dozens of talents have been brought back to the company and there have been very limited releases.

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on the WWE-UFC merger.