WWE Told Steph De Lander to “Do the Drew McIntyre” and Return

Steph De Lander is now one of the top women’s wrestlers outside of WWE, but a few years ago, she was known as Persia Pirotta in NXT. She was released by WWE in 2022 and now it appears WWE told her to follow in Drew McIntyre’s footsteps and return to the company.

During a virtual signing with K&S WrestleFest, De Lander shared that WWE told her to follow the same path as Drew McIntyre, who was released, rebuilt himself on the indies, and later returned. She messaged McIntyre for advice, and he gave her a lot of useful tips, which she has been following.

De Lander also looks up to wrestlers like Cody Rhodes, Matt Cardona, Samoa Joe, and Chelsea Green—people who left WWE and later returned or found success in other promotions. She mentioned how Green worked on the indies and in TNA before rejoining WWE, where she became one of the most popular wrestlers.

De Lander said that making it outside WWE takes a lot of hard work. She explained that she had only one day at home that week because of her busy travel schedule. She believes wrestlers must be fully committed to succeed. In her opinion, if you don’t give it your all, it won’t work.

“They literally said to me, they were like, ‘Do the Drew McIntyre, and then come back.’ So then I messaged Drew, and I was like, ‘Hey, I got told to do what you did. What did you do?’ He sent me a whole bunch of stuff….I made sure I’m following what he did, and I look at people like Drew and Cody and Cardona and Samoa Joe, people that have either been fired and rehired or released or went to WWE later in their careers, or people that have been in multiple different companies and had really lengthy careers.

Even Chelsea [Green], she got released and then did stuff on the indies and TNA, got rehired, and now she’s one of the most over people on the show. So I think there’s ways to do it, but you have to be willing to…I had one day at home this week. You’ve gotta be willing to, after a full loop of TV, be gone for a day and then fly out on a Monday to do this. That takes a special kind of person. You’ve got to really want it. I think you can’t half-ass it, and if you half-ass it, that’s when it doesn’t work.”

Steph De Lander underwent neck surgery and is currently on the path to recovery, but she recently made her return to TNA television. Regardless, we’ll have to wait and see when De Lander will return to WWE, as fans would love to see her back.

Do you think Steph De Lander should follow Drew McIntyre’s path and return to WWE after making a name for herself? Or should she continue to build her legacy in TNA and other promotions?