Naman Shrestha
Considered to be one of the most physically imposing and technical female wrestlers of all time, Jazz, despite her relatively short tenure, left a huge impact on the WWE industry. Unlike most of the other Divas at the time, Jazz’s storyline had more to do with actual wrestling than other non-wrestling matches or events. However, she was released industry after she gave them about seven years of entertaining and intense matches. So, it is only natural for you to pose questions about the reasons for Jazz’s departure from WWE and her current whereabouts. In that case, let’s dive right into the details, shall we?
Why Did Jazz Leave WWE?
Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, Carlene Denise Moore-Begnaud AKA Jazz was inspired by Jacqueline Moore and wanted to follow in her footsteps and become a wrestler. She dropped out of college and joined a wrestling school in Louisiana, training with Rod Price for several months before making her professional wrestling debut against her inspiration, Jacqueline. Later, under the name of Jazzmine, she became part of the original Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as the muscle for an alliance called the Impact Players, which included wrestlers like Justin Credible and Lance Storm.
Proving herself to be a fiery competitor afraid of none of his competitors, Jazzmine took on the former ECW TV Champion Jason and defeated him at Heat Wave in 1999. When ECW was shut down, she signed with the WWE under her new ring name Jazz, and targeted Women’s Champion Trish Stratus immediately in order to win the title for herself. The two got involved in a long-running feud, giving us some of the most grueling and entertaining matches the women’s division of WWE has ever witnessed. They even competed in a Divas Hardcore Match and a Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania XIX, with Jazz emerging victorious and retaining her Women’s Championship title.
But after suffering from a torn ACL injury, Jazz dropped her title to Trish Stratus in May 2002. Upon her return, she engaged in a feud with Stratus again alongside Victoria. She managed to regain the Women’s Championship title after defeating Stratus at Backlash. However, during her title defense battle royal match in June 2003, she suffered a dislocated shoulder and had to be out of the ring for several weeks. She made a return to the ring in early 2004 but was not given as significant matches as she was used to.
Later the same year, when her real-life husband Rodney Mack joined WWE, she became his manager before getting released from the industry soon after that, reportedly due to the creative department’s lack of ideas for her character. A couple of years later, Jazz returned to WWE when the ECW was relaunched in 2006. In an attempt to prove herself again, she put up a tough fight against then-Women’s Champion Mickie James but couldn’t manage to reclaim the top spot she had experienced earlier. The powerful Diva was let go from WWE again in January 2007. Believing that it had something to do with the politics within the industry, Jazz struggled to gather the reason she was released.
During a conversation on ‘“Da” Podcast,’ Jazz talked about her departure from WWE in detail. She explained, “Regardless of how things ended, I’m still grateful for that and I still say that I should probably just now be retiring from WWE honestly. That’s how I feel what I brought to the table in WWE. Me leaving WWE should have been on my terms when I was ready to leave. But, I still today don’t understand why I was released. I don’t know. I don’t know if I wasn’t a kiss-ass or what, I don’t know because I was not a kiss ass and I spoke up for myself, you know? And back then, they didn’t like that sh*t so, it is what it is.”
Jazz is Still a Part of Wrestling Community
After WWE, Jazz didn’t lose touch with wrestling as she became part of various professional wrestling promotions, including Women Superstars Uncensored, Shine Wrestling, Chikara, National Wrestling Alliance, All Elite Wrestling, SWE Fury, and Impact Wrestling. She left quite an impression at all the promotions she participated in, extending her legacy in the field of wrestling even further. Soon after leaving WWE, Jazz and her long-time husband Rodney Mack welcomed their twin daughters named Summer and Skye in November 2008.
Apart from staying connected to the sports entertainment industry, Jazz and her husband also own a wrestling school called The Dog Pound, where the former imparts her knowledge to the future generation of potential Superstars. She also owns a fitness gym, which indicates her passion for working out and leading a healthy lifestyle. Besides being a family woman, she also encourages women’s wrestling and continues to inspire many women to pursue their dreams of making it to the top.
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