When news broke back in December that McKenzie Mitchell, the backstage reporter/former kickoff host, was being released from her WWE contract before NXT‘s final Premium Live Event of the year, Deadline, it turned heads around professional wrestling.
Sure, it's not like NXT doesn't have a wealth of on-screen talent, as Kelly Kincaid and Sarah Schreiber have been working for the company in various roles and can now step up into more defined roles, but still, seldom an episode of NXT television went by without Mitchell on screen for one reason or another, with her repertoire with wrestlers like Wes Lee becoming a true highlight of weekly television.
Stopping by SE Scoops to discuss her release almost a month after her exit, Mitchell described her final month of 2023 as a “roller coaster,” with the backstage interviewer affording herself some time to decompress to close out the year.
“It’s been quite a roller coaster as you would expect when someone gets released. For me, it was not expected. I didn’t expect it was going to happen, but I was able to take the news and what happened and move forward,” McKenzie Mitchell told SE Scoops. “It was unfortunate that it happened during the holidays but also a blessing as well because I was able to spend time with my family and friends, my husband, and my kids. All of that. It has been nice to decompress. 2023 has been a really hard year for us in every facet of life, so I’m able to take these last two weeks and hit the restart button before we hit 2024.”
Asked how folks reacted to her release, Mitchell noted that many of her coworkers reached out to show their support, including Miss N-Becks-T herself, the former NXT Women's Champion, Becky Lynch.
“I did have Terry Taylor reach out to me, which was nice,” Mitchell noted. “He stuck out because he is so respected in the business. So that was really important and awesome he reached out and gave me a personal phone call. Becky Lynch texted me a really nice message. She is so well-respected, obviously, as a top competitor in the women’s division and the world. It was awesome to hear her kind words. It meant so much.”
Where will Mitchell end up next? Will she continue working in wrestling, signing with AEW, or returning to Impact/TNA? Or will she find a new gig outside of the industry, hosting or reporting on another topic entirely? Fans will have to keep an eye on Mitchell's social media account to find out.
McKenzie Mitchell reflects on her hosting gigs in WWE.
Elsewhere in her interview with SE Scoops, McKenzie Mitchell was asked about the highlights of her run in NXT, be that on television or outside of it. Though Mitchell did a ton over her time in NXT, her favorite moments included hosting the brand's former kick-off show, What's NeXT.
“I’d say some of my highlights were hosting the kickoff shows for NXT. That was 30 minutes or an hour where it’s just genuine real conversation. We got to do more things on the fly. That was a moment of, ‘We trust you and this is your show and make it your own and see what you can do.’ That was for me a breakthrough moment. It was a different McKenzie you saw. What’s NeXT will always be very special to me with Alicia Taylor. We had Triple H on the show, which was really cool. When we asked for him to be on the show, I didn’t expect him to come on our little grungy-type show that was in the back of the Performance Center because we didn’t want to make it feel too staged,” McKenzie Mitchell shared.
“When he said let’s do it. It was awesome. We had Finn Balor, Johnny Gargano, and the list goes on. That was really a learning curve in my experience with WWE too because I was able to take those real moments and just respond by doing interviews. Rather than on television, you get a timed amount for a segment or different interview. This allowed us to have fun.”
Should WWE have kept What's NeXT going? Assuming it wasn't too cost-prohibitive – which it couldn't have been – I don't see why not. Still, it's clear WWE is in a weird spot right now, with the promotion looking to both cut salaries and also be active in free agency in the pursuit of new, top-tier talents, While it's unfortunate that Mitchell was released as part of this shuffle, very few performers stay employed by WWE forever, let alone as part of a single reign.
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