New reports have emerged surrounding Lana being released from WWE with suggestions that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had assured her creative had plans for her.
Lana was among six names surprisingly released from their WWE contracts on June 2nd. Former WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman, former NXT Champion Aleister Black, Ruby Riott, Buddy Murphy, and NXT star Santana Garrett were all released from the company for what Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis cited as budgetary reasons.
Fightful Select has now reported that Lana along with recent tag team partner Naomi would “constantly” try and follow up with the creative team regarding ideas for the pair. With the report stating the two WWE Superstars were always trying to ensure they’d have a story or be doing something on shows.
The report then goes on to state that plans for Lana were “significantly different” earlier this year before Charlotte Flair returned to the company post-WrestleMania. Reportedly Vince McMahon himself “personally assured” Lana that her character would continue and plans would be made for her.
Lana’s time in WWE was spent mostly by the side of her husband Rusev, who is now known as TNT Champion Miro in All Elite Wrestling. ‘The Ravishing Russian’ led Rusev to title wins and WrestleMania appearances as she encouraged him to ‘crush’ his opposition. A short-lived spell as part of a pairing with Dolph Ziggler after splitting from Rusev was cut short after Rusev and Lana’s real-life engagement was announced on social media.
More recently Lana was involved in a feud with Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler which saw Jax put Lana through table after table week after week on WWE television. This led to Lana ending up as Team Raw’s sole survivor in their brand vs. brand women’s tag team match at Survivor Series 2020. This year Lana had been teaming with Naomi including during an appearance in a tag team turmoil match at WrestleMania 37.