Why does Mandy Rose believe Shawn Michaels was behind her WWE release?  Reason for her theory disclosed

Mandy Rose broke a record with her impressive NXT title reign spread over the span of 413 days. Her release ended her seven-year association with WWE and stunned the wrestling fraternity.

The cause of her release was allegedly due to content shared on an adult site. However, her firing garnered backlash from fans who called out the company's hypocrisy, with Vince McMahon announcing his return in an administrative capacity. This came after cases of sexual harassment emerged against him and the company found itself on the receiving end of varied lawsuits from those involved, angry stockholders and even discontent from the Board of Directors.

Since September 2021, Shawn Michaels has been the head of NXT in the aftermath of Triple H's health scare. In addition to developing and mentoring talent, HBK also overlooks creative decisions for the brand. It was later reported that Matt Bloom (aka Tensai), NXT's head coach, discovered Rose's content and informed HBK about it.

During an interaction on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Mandy Rose addressed the issue, citing that her release caught her off guard:

"I was never like kept out of the loop either, being the champion for 413 days. I didn't really have many surprises like that. So, it's very like, 'woo, did I do something? what's going on?' Obviously, I had some inclination 'coz of what was going on social media and what was going on the night before. It came from Shawn Michaels himself. So, I knew it was coming from the Head of Creative."

Mandy Rose was active on the main roster until 2021. She teamed up with Sonya Deville and Saraya (fka Paige) to form Absolution, but the group disbanded following the former Anti-Diva's retirement from in-ring competition. However, Deville and Rose competed in the tag team division.

Following WrestleMania 37, Rose was drafted to NXT wherein she became the leader of Toxic Attraction, which included Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin.

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Shawn Michaels claimed Mandy Rose's firing was a 'creative call'

As soon as word spread of Mandy Rose's release, fans and the wrestling world raised many questions as to what led to WWE and Shawn Michaels making such a crucial decision. WWE did not give out any official statement on the star's release as they normally would for talent. But they did give a hint when Roxanne Perez ended Rose's dominant streak as NXT Women's Champion.

HBK later stated that he had no role in her firing and it was a collective creative call by the company's administration:

"I didn’t fire her. I can’t fire anybody. Only thing correct about any of that is that I handle [the] creative. It was unfortunate. I think Mandy was fantastic for us."

Following her departure, Mandy Rose has been vocal that she has no plans to hang up her wrestling boots just yet. Additionally, she has been active on her subscription-based adult site and reportedly earned a million dollars in the month after her release.

Additionally, it seems the 32-year-old maintains a close eye on the happenings in the wrestling industry. This is evident from her tweets and posts about former Toxic Attraction teammates' performances on NXT.