Pro Wrestling Press sent along the following:
LOS ANGELES, CA — On the latest episode of The Wednesday Hang, former ECW and WWE superstar Dawn Marie opened up to David Otunga about the abrupt and controversial end to her professional wrestling career. Speaking candidly on the digital series, she detailed being terminated by WWE due to her pregnancy and the heavy emotional toll that a recent WWE appearance took on her.
The Cost of Motherhood in Early WWE
Dawn Marie did not mince words when discussing how her groundbreaking pregnancy ultimately cost her her career. She recalled the situation with stark clarity:
“I was released for being pregnant and having, you know, what I’m born to do as a woman… I was punished for it.”
“My career was cut short instantly.”
“I was the first woman to ever get pregnant in the industry… first one to ever get pregnant under contract like that and I got fired.”
“They kept me off TV for a little bit and then they fired me. They told me they had nothing for me.”
Despite the painful exit and the legal battles that followed, she expressed that leaving the industry allowed her to build a stable home and experience unconditional love. Looking back on the situation, she noted, “I was honestly able to say, like, I’m grateful I got fired.”
“Tell Them F***ing No”
Decades after her release, Dawn Marie returned as a special guest referee for an NXT event in Philadelphia. However, being asked to cut a promotional video for the appearance brought back buried trauma and bitterness from her departure.
After struggling for an entire day to film the short promo, she set a strict boundary regarding future appearances:
“Everything I kind of tucked away as Dawn Marie, like, I had to bring back up to the surface and deal with.”
“And I remember calling Paul and being like, please, if my name ever comes up again, just tell them fucking no. No. I don’t ever want to torture myself like this again. Please, no.”
“Because it’s not that I hated it. I loved it. But I loved it so much that it made me sad.”
“I also hated it so much because it was bringing back things that I just pushed away that I didn’t want to deal with.”
Ultimately, she credited the NXT appearance with giving her the closure she never received, stating that she left the arena feeling like the “heaviness was gone.”
Life Beyond the Ring
Today, Dawn Marie has successfully reinvented herself entirely outside of the wrestling business.
She is a dedicated nurse running geriatric locked dementia units.
She owns a crystal store, teaching holistic energy balancing and vibration.
She recently launched an OnlyFans account (@WWEDawnMarieECW) to help prepare for her future, noting that the physical toll of her nursing career and past severe neck injuries from wrestling are catching up with her.
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