There’s been a lot of movement in the world of wrestling over the last few weeks as a number of former WWE stars recently became free agents. You never know who might show up when you watch a wrestling show and on Saturday night Dana Brooke debuted with TNA wrestling under the name Ash By Elegance.
The former Dana Brooke recently opened up about her release during an appearance on Busted Open Radio and she admitted that she felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders when she got the call.
“The moment I got the call (that I was being released was when the feeling of freedom hit me). I’m not going to lie to you. It was the moment I got the phone call and I will never forget, it was Thursday that I received the phone call and previously, I’d say that Monday or Tuesday, I had gotten a call that I was going to be booked for a pay-per-view for NXT. So when I had got that phone call, it was a bit of confusion at first. I’m like, ‘Wait a second, I was just told I’m working Sunday.’ But you know what? It’s fine, because I felt a sigh of relief and freedom. I can’t describe this feeling of a weight lifted off of my shoulders of like, wow, I can control my own destiny and that was something that I was battling with for quite some time because I felt as though, man, in my entire life, ever since I was a little girl, I was controlling my destiny. If I wanted to take gymnastics at that next level, I did. Fitness and bodybuilding, if you don’t bust your b**t, you’re not gonna get the results that you want and I was grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding and and then I got to a point within WWE which is an amazing, amazing platform to inspire and touch millions of people around the world, but you’re like this, you’re controlled and you can not explore freedom and that’s something that I was yearning for.
I wanted that control of I control my own destiny. I wanna get out there and I want to empower women on my own and not be told, ‘Hey, you’re booked to go here this weekend. You have a dot on your calendar. You have to go here, you have to do this. This is what you’re doing on TV, this is what you’re doing on this appearance. You’re needed at NXT’ and I got comfortable and I feel as though that was (the) scary thing coming out of all of this was, man, okay, this is really happening and I need to go and get it and it was a blessing in disguise because my parents, I’m very close to my family and they’re like, ‘Ash, you’re gonna make it. Do not think that WWE defines you as a person because it doesn’t. You define yourself’ and that really touched me and from that moment that I got the call, I felt freedom and you best believe it, after I got off the phone, I started getting on it and hustling to see where was the best fit for me because I knew it was not the time to hang up my boots and WWE was not going to be the one to tell me when I’m stopping my career. So TNA was the perfect fit, it was everything that I was looking for. Talking with Tommy Dreamer and Gail Kim was the best and they made me feel like this is the place to be. This is where I can explore freedom and opportunity all in one.”
H/T POST Wrestling
