Lana may have been released from WWE earlier this year but WWE Chairman Vince McMahon sent her a message praising her “incredible work ethic” and she says she would have loved to have been able to hug him one last time.
Lana was released from her WWE contract on June 2nd alongside former WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Ruby Riott, Buddy Murphy, and Santana Garrett. The ‘Ravishing Russian’ had her last match for the company just two nights before as she and tag team partner Naomi were defeated by Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose on Raw.
Appearing on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast, Lana revealed that after her release she became emotional following a text message from McMahon.
Lana stated:
“I did. I got a text [from Vince] I definitely got emotional about it because it was just like goodbye for me, you know? He thanked me for my incredible work ethic and for my relentless desire to be the best that I could be and all of the contributions that I gave to the WWE so that really meant a lot to me. I thanked him for everything you taught me because I learned so much, I’ve learned so many life lessons and [lessons about performing] so I am incredibly thankful.”
Lana went on to say that leaving friends and colleagues that she has worked with for years without getting to say a proper goodbye stung the most:
“The hardest part for me was the goodbye part and now it’s changed a little bit, people are at least talking to each other. It used to be [where you got completely] cut off. Why? I would have liked to maybe give Vince McMahon one last hug goodbye. I would want to say goodbye to the writers. I would want to say goodbye to Ryan Ward, who I’ve worked with for eight years. He started with my very first promo. I want to say goodbye to these people. I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again. We don’t know. I mean, look at Brodie [Lee] you don’t know when your last day is.”