Charly Caruso Officially Leaving WWE for ESPN Job

Charly Caruso (real name Charly Arnolt) is officially leaving WWE. The on-screen personality had been slowly removed from the WWE product over the past several weeks, with reports popping up of her having backstage issues after arriving late for interview tapings. On Monday both she and ESPN announced that she would be taking a full-time position with the sports network after previously working part-time on the morning show First Take and the podcast First Take, Her Take.

“Multi-platform host and reporter Charly Arnolt will be joining ESPN on a full-time basis beginning in early April as part of a new, multi-year contract extension with the network. Arnolt — who recently launched the weekly ESPN Podcast First Take, Her Take alongside Kimberley A. Martin and Chiney Ogwumike — will continue to have a significant role across many of the network’s other signature brands as well,” ESPN’s announcement read.

“In addition to First Take, Her Take, Arnolt will continue to contribute to select editions of ESPN’s morning debate show First Take and the network’s signature news and information show, SportsCenter,” the release continued. “Arnolt will regularly appear on ESPN+’s weekday morning show, SportsNation along with other digital shows across the industry-leading sports streaming service as well.”

Arnolt later took to Instagram to react to the news, as well as bid farewell to her WWE fans.

“As I take this monumental next step in my career, I can’t do so without thanking so many of the people at WWE who I’ve spent the last nearly 5 years with,” she wrote. “Thank you to those on and off camera who I had the chance to connect with not only professionally, but personally. Some true gems! 💎 And of course, thank you to the WWE Universe, a network of some of the most loyal fans in the world. I hope you all continue to stay in touch because your encouragement means everything! Lastly, thank you so very much to my family and friends who have believed in me and my dreams every step of the way. It’s been quite the journey! I love you all.”

Kayla Braxton has since stepped in as the new host of WWE’s pay-per-view kickoff shows, while Kevin Patrick was recently hired to take over as co-host of Raw Talk with R-Truth.