Steph De Lander: A Return To WWE Is Definitely The End Goal, But I’m Not Rushing To Get There

Steph De Lander talks WWE return aspirations.

Steph De Lander had a brief run in WWE as Persia Pirotta. Following her release in 2022, De Lander has continued to make a name for herself on the independent circuit as the “Indy Goddess” alongside Matt Cardona. 

During a recent interview on the Insight podcast with Chris Van Vliet, De Lander opened up about her immediate feelings regarding her WWE release and said that while a return to WWE is definitely the end goal, she is certainly in no rush to go back to that system right now. 

“I think that’s definitely the end goal, but it’s not like I’m rushing to get there. I think when I had that mentality switch, that’s when things started coming together for me too. Because when I first got released, the first thing I did was I texted Matt Bloom, I said, How do I get my job back? I got him on the phone, I said, What do I need to do? I spent the next couple of weeks like what’s going on? How do we undo this? Then I thought about and I would dream about it all the time, and it was this unhealthy obsession with all I want to do is get back there,” she recalled. “Once I kind of let go of that, and I made peace with what I was doing. I realized if I do the indies begrudgingly, and I do it dragging my feet, and I do it not really enjoying it, always looking to the next thing, I’m not going to have fun, and I’m not going to put out my best work. So I kind of had to pack up that WWE box and put it away and really focus on what I was doing. Then have the faith and know that if I do what I need to do, and I work really hard and I commit fully to this. The end result will be I be getting new interest from WWE and from elsewhere, which I have, because of how hot our act is.” 

Matt Cardona has always shared a similar sentiment in regards to returning to WWE. He knows he wants to be able to have more WrestleMania moments, but he’s also enjoyed paving a new path for wrestlers beyond signing major contracts. 

Fans can check out an interview that Sean Ross Sapp conducted with Steph De Lander shortly after her release at this link.

Thanks to Chris Van Vliet and his team for sending the above quotes.