An in-depth look at Mimi’s time in WWE.
WWE’s March 2022 class of Performance Center recruits included Roxanne Perez, Kiana James, Sol Ruca, Fallon Henley, Channing ‘Stacks’ Lorenzo and Notorious Mimi f.k.a. Sloane Jacobs.
In October of that year, Mimi was released from WWE. She looked back on her time with the company and her exit while on the Talk Is Jericho podcast. Mimi mentioned that she’s not sure if she received specific guidance about what she could have done better.
The conversation concerning her release was one minute long and not much of an explanation was given. Afterwards, Matt Bloom called her and told Mimi that her hard work was appreciated and hopes she does not step away from wrestling because of the release. On one hand, Mimi took that as a complement but she also did not take the comment positively because of Bloom’s thought that she’d actually step away from wrestling because she’s no longer in WWE.
So, I was signed for, I wanna say, eight or nine months so it was from mid-March to October 31st. We love getting fired on Halloween (she laughed). I was carving a pumpkin dammit! But it was honestly an amazing experience the whole time I was down there. I got to work with the normal coaches people always bring up like Robbie Brookside, Norman Smiley, A.J. Winkler who’s from wXw in Germany and I really enjoyed learning all these super different styles. I feel like it expanded what I knew a lot. But I wasn’t on TV all that much as anyone who really kept up would tell you. I had three main TV matches and that was it the whole time I was down there and I’m not really sure I never received particular guidance on what they wanted changed or not but, I think as most people who’ve been around the business or specifically paid attention to the way that the WWE developmental system works for a while, mass releases are a really common thing and I was one of five or six specifically on that day and definitely like one of 20 or 30 in that year that, you know, just got the boot at some point. They didn’t offer a ton of explanation. It was a like a minute-long phone call. But I (got a) call the next day from the head coach which I appreciated. Matt Bloom gave me a call and was just like, ‘Hey, we appreciated your work. You worked hard and we hope you don’t leave wrestling for this’ which I both felt very complemented by and at the same time I was like, I’m not gonna leave wrestling for this. You do not own my love for wrestling. I’m gonna wrestle anyway, thank you very much. But I really appreciated everyone there and everyone was super friendly. I just wish maybe it had gone a little longer.
She went on to state that being released ‘sucked’ but there was a part of her that was excited about being able to wrestle more.
Mimi shared that while she was in WWE, she pitched ideas and characters that went ignored and unnoticed. Also, she was having trouble getting onto house shows.
I was still 19 when I got fired (from WWE) actually. It definitely really sucked, but at the same time, part of me immediately went, I actually get to wrestle again. I was so excited because I had done nothing for three months. I pitched stuff, it had gotten ignored. I’d offer storylines, characters, stuff like that and it had gone completely unnoticed and I couldn’t even get on live events for the life of me. Even though I was really sad, one, I think it was kind of one of those things where you see it coming but, more so, I was just like, thank God I get to actually wrestle again because I have 13 matches in 2022 which is way low for me or something like that and I’ve already had like 30 this year.
It’s like you feel privileged to get the training and be able to make the paycheck but at the same time, if you’re not actually producing the product, you feel kind of pointless being there.
At the age of 19, Mimi was hired by WWE. She mentioned that her trainer, Danny Cage, has an email from the company one year before they signed her in which they noted they would not sign her until she’s in her 20s.
There was a lot of people who were either 18, 19, 20. They (WWE) had a lot of the younger people that they wanted to sign come back to just to see if they could actually tolerate the schedule more or less.
He (Danny Cage) has an email from WWE a year before they signed me saying they wouldn’t sign me until I was like 21.
On the sixth episode of ROH on Honor Club, Mimi went one-on-one with Willow Nightingale. She’s wrestled in two matches for AEW over the last several years.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
