Jessamyn Duke Confirms She’s Not Leaving UpUpDownDown Despite WWE Release

Former UFC fighter Jessamyn Duke was one of six wrestlers released by the WWE on Wednesday. Duke first signed with WWE in 2018 alongside Marina Shafir and started working alongside Shayna Baszler in NXT as three of the Four Horsewomen of MMA, but she stopped competing in matches in late 2019. Outside of a random appearance on Raw Underground in mid-2020 she hadn’t been appearing on WWE television at all, opting instead to help with WWE’s digital team and work on Xavier Woods’ UpUpDownDown YouTube channel.

Duke appeared on her Okay Gamer stream on Wednesday night to respond to the release, bringing some good news in the process. She confirmed that while she’s no longer under contract with WWE, she’ll continue to work on UpUpDownDown as a member of BRE Start (comprised of Duke, Baszler, Dakota Kai and Mia Yim).

“My stream, my channel, all of that is the same,” Duke said (h/t Fightful). “More importantly than that, I want all of you to know; UpUpDownDown is still my home. BRE Start is not going anywhere. Everyone can relax, sit back, and enjoy knowing that tomorrow [Friday] a brand new episode of BRE Start will be premiering. We still have BRE Fridays and have BRE content coming out of our ears. That’s not going anywhere.

“Basically, what I’ve been doing the last six months or so is exactly what I’m going to keep doing. I know I have an immense amount of support and it is overwhelming,” she added. “I appreciate you guys. UpUpDownDown is my home, they have my back, we are in this together, and we are family.”

Woods also responded shortly after the news of Duke’s release broke.