Zayda Steel is shutting down rumors about her WWE departure herself — and she didn’t sound amused by the speculation at all.
A fan on Twitter questioned why Zayda walked away from her WWE ID deal in the first place, arguing that she potentially could have already been deep into the WWE NXT system by now alongside the Vanity Project.
“I don’t know why she left Evolve, but she would have been in NXT a long time ago (with the Vanity Project) instead of whatever this is.”
Then another fan chimed in with a personal rumor about her departure, claiming the real reason she left was relationship-related.
“Apparently she wanted to be closer to her boyfriend or whatever.”
That immediately got Zayda’s attention — and she wasted absolutely no time shutting the entire thing down publicly. Clearly frustrated by people inventing stories about her personal life online, she sarcastically joked about constantly discovering fake information about herself through social media.
“I find out new things about myself everyday on this app.”
She then directly denied even having a boyfriend at all. And then came the line that made her stance crystal clear: “I don’t have a boyfriend & would never do anything for a man.” Zayda reminded everyone that her WWE departure had nothing to do with rumors, relationships, or outside distractions. According to her, the answer was much simpler than people wanted to believe.
“I didn’t want to be there what don’t y’all get.”
That response lines up directly with comments Zayda previously made during her appearance on AEW Unrestricted, where she explained that leaving WWE came from burnout and losing her passion for wrestling. During that interview, Zayda admitted wrestling stopped feeling like an escape and instead started feeling emotionally draining.
“I chose to walk away from my previous employment. I’m on my own journey. I want to be with people that love it as much as I do.”
She then explained how her relationship with wrestling itself started changing mentally. According to Zayda, she eventually realized she needed to leave before she completely lost herself and her love for wrestling.
“I love wrestling, and this is my escape from reality. And once I started to feel like my only escape was work, and I started to not like it and not have fun, I knew I needed to change. I always want to love this, so I chose to walk away and focus on my mental health. I was losing myself and my love for wrestling, so I knew I needed to do my own thing.”
Shortly afterwards, Tony Khan personally contacted her about joining AEW — something she says completely changed the direction of her career. According to Zayda, Khan already knew extensive details about her work before the two even officially talked.
“Tony Khan called me five days after I tweeted. This guy watches everything — he knew everything I did, what I’ve done.”
She even admitted she was shocked by how much Khan already knew about her wrestling background.
“I was like, some of my best friends don’t even know what I’ve done. I was like, yeah, this guy is as crazy as I am.”
So, Zayda Steel is making it very clear that fans don’t need to invent conspiracy theories about her WWE exit. According to her, there was no boyfriend situation, no hidden drama, and no outside influence. She simply stopped wanting to be there — and she’s clearly tired of people trying to rewrite the story for her.
What do you think about Zayda Steel directly calling out the rumors surrounding her WWE departure? Drop your thoughts below and let us know.