Naomi says 2022 WWE walkout ‘made me stronger’
Naomi is on perhaps the best run of her entire WWE career — and walking out of the company three years ago is something that helped her get to this point.
During an episode of Raw in May 2022, Naomi and Mercedes Mone (then Sasha Banks) walked out of WWE amid frustration over their direction and how they were being treated. Mone is now one of the top stars in AEW, while Naomi became a champion for TNA before later returning to WWE. She is now the Women’s World Champion in WWE.
Naomi and her husband Jimmy Uso appeared together on the latest episode of Stephanie McMahon’s “What’s Your Story?” podcast, with Naomi opening up about how much she’s learned in her career.
“I have learned so much. I came into this world, this life, this business, this job not really sure what it was about [or] where it was going to take me. It was kind of just, in my mind, a transition until I figured out what was next,” she said.
“I heard about this and thought it would be cool. And I was like, I don’t know if I’m going to be any good, I don’t know what’s going to happen, I don’t even know if I’m going to get hired, but I’m going to try this until I see what’s next. And then it just — it just took over. And I met my husband, the love of my life, that changed my life. And us both being blessed enough to rise in this together. It’s just been an incredible journey and something that I didn’t see — and didn’t really have the time to like stop and process because we have been just going nonstop for years.”
When she walked out of WWE, Naomi did not know what was next for her or if she even wanted to continue wrestling. But the time she took to work on herself helped Naomi become stronger and find more confidence in herself.
“I think when the walkout and all of that happened, I think that was the first time honestly, in my adult life, where I had the chance to stop, rethink, redefine, and figure out what I really wanted next, how I wanted my life to move forward from this. And I really, in the beginning, struggled trying to process that. I thought I didn’t want to wrestle anymore. I thought I was done. [Jimmy] was also in a different point in his career. He was in the thick of Bloodline life,” Naomi said
“He did such a great job, but also, I had to go through a lot emotionally and mentally on my own because he had his own stuff going on. And that was the first time where I just had to do the work on myself. And it was, I think it was great. It made me stronger. It relit a fire in me. I became a lot more confident in myself because I didn’t have him to reassure me on things about work. And I just thought I grew so much through that and through that time period when I was gone. So when I came back, I was ready. I was refreshed. And I was intentional on what I wanted this time to be like. And I just — I focused, I locked in, and I worked hard on it. And it paid off.”
Naomi, currently playing a heel in WWE, became Women’s World Champion by cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase during IYO SKY vs. Rhea Ripley at Evolution this July. A title bout between Naomi and SKY was supposed to take place on Raw earlier this week, but the match did not happen due to Naomi being medically unable to compete.
There hasn’t been definitive word on why Naomi was unable to compete on Raw or an update on whether she’ll still be making her scheduled title defense against Stephanie Vaquer at Clash in Paris on August 31.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.