Ivelisse Velez is one of the most talented women in professional wrestling today. Velez first got her notoriety in the business thanks to her stint with Tough Enough, and though she didn’t win the competition, the Tough Enough competitor earned a developmental contract. She was abruptly released from her WWE contract a year later. Velez has stated that the reasoning behind her WWE firing was due to standing up to the WWE Performance Center head trainer at the time, Bill DeMott; Reportedly he has a controversial history behind the scenes. Both WWE and DeMott have actively denied any stories of misconduct, though several of his former students came out with detailed descriptions of the emotional and physical abuse from DeMott.
A former development wrestler by the name of Austin Matelson actually penned a letter detailing his negative experiences under the training of Bill DeMott. In one of the examples, he says how Coach DeMott told former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore that he hopes he dies. Matelson also claimed that DeMott consistently referred to Oliver Gray as Joel Pedophile. Matelson is just one of the many students who have highlighted the behavior of Bill DeMott in the past. To be clear, it’s never been confirmed by WWE or DeMott that Velez was released because of these reasons, though it should be cited on why the former WWE star’s first run failed.
Following that stint, Ivelisse mainly ran the indie circuit, and she even had a brief run during Impact Wrestling, through their Gut Check program. She was shockingly turned down and sparsely competed in the company since. This is notable because Velez had the biggest run of her career during Lucha Underground. There, the former WWE star got to finally show why she’s one of the best in the world. She had incredible matches against talents such as Angelico, Dragon Azteca Jr., and Mil Muertes, ending up winning the Lucha Underground Trios Championships twice. During this time, Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground formed a partnership, with wrestlers from LU competing on Impact Wrestling. Reportedly, she was set to make her re-debut with the company back in 2018, but it was mysteriously dropped, according to Velez.
Luckily, she got another shot in AEW after her nasty battle of trying to get out of her Lucha Underground contract. Unfortunately, Ivelisse was released in Apil 2021. Stories cited that the former AEW star had a confrontation with Thunder Rosa, and the company opted to let her go. First, I don’t know Ivelisse personally, so this article isn’t any judgment towards her as a person. My opinion is based off the numerous reports and facts regarding her character behind-the-scenes. The reasoning that Ivelisse never made it as a star in either WWE or AEW is due to her problematic behavior. Ivelisse is reportedly difficult to deal with backstage. Jack Evans has noted in 2018 that he demanded his release because of her difficult personality. AEW reportedly released her because she clashed with coaches and trainers. In fact, Ivelisse and Thunder Rosa reportedly got into a shoot fight during their match on Dynamite back in September 2020. There’s a reason why WWE opted to not hire her back after tryouts in 2019. Of course, no information has come to light in regards of her tryouts and Ivelisse’s first stint feels as if she was genuinely mistreated, but there’s a reason why one of the most talented individuals in wrestling is not in WWE, AEW, or Impact Wrestling.
Look at Tessa Blanchard. The second-generation star is one of the best female wrestlers in the world; however, WWE opted to not sign her, allegations of racism and mistreatment were brought to light, and her exit from Impact Wrestling was pretty ugly. Tessa Blanchard is nowhere to be seen on any of the major promotions. Tully Blanchard is in AEW! This doesn’t sound like the case of wrestling companies screwing over Ivelisse. Again, Lucha Underground and her first WWE stint is the exception, but her behavior is killing her career. This is a shame because she would greatly boost any women’s division. Her stint in Lucha Underground showcased that she could be a star if booked right. Is it possible that this is just a bad string of luck? Well, until any of the companies confirm why they released Ivelisse then it is still just rumors, but it’s hard to not put two and two together especially since there’s documents of several talents talking about her backstage behavior. Hopefully, AEW isn’t the last time we see Ivelisse. The most important thing is that she grows from her experiences though she might’ve burned too many bridges in this case.
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