Wendy Choo’s WWE release apparently blindsided people inside the Performance Center. While WWE was busy cutting developmental talent, Choo’s name was one that caught the building completely off guard.
Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez revealed the internal reaction Saturday, saying the response inside WWE’s developmental system was pretty much disbelief.
“Apparently the whole PC was shocked that Wendy Choo was released.”
That reaction stands out because Choo wasn’t some forgotten name sitting on the sidelines. WWE had still been using her across Evolve and LFG before pulling the plug on her run.
Choo had been with WWE for years and went through several completely different versions of her character along the way. She first appeared in NXT as Mei Ying before reinventing herself as the pajama-wearing Wendy Choo in 2022, complete with a pillow, naps and a gimmick built around sleeping wherever she could.
That version of Choo ended up getting some major opportunities. She challenged Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT In Your House in 2022 and later went after Kelani Jordan’s NXT Women’s North American Championship at No Mercy in 2024. WWE eventually took Choo in a much darker direction after a lengthy absence, but her most recent run had been centered around Evolve. Choo won the Evolve Women’s Championship in April 2026 and held the title until Nikkita Lyons beat her for it on June 24.
WWE was also using Choo on LFG in a player-coach role, giving younger prospects someone with years of developmental experience to work with. That makes the reaction to her release even more telling, because she was still being used in multiple roles before WWE suddenly cut her loose.
Choo was released as part of the same developmental wave that included PJ Vasa and Jasper Troy, but the reaction to her exit clearly hit differently inside the building. Based on Alvarez’s update, this wasn’t one of those cuts people at the Performance Center saw coming from a mile away.
Wendy Choo survived multiple gimmicks, title programs, long absences and several reinventions during her WWE run. She still ended up on the chopping block, and judging by the reaction inside the Performance Center, WWE caught plenty of its own people by surprise when it made the call.
What do you make of the Performance Center being shocked by Wendy Choo’s release? Were you surprised WWE let her go too? Drop your feedback in the comments and let us know what you think.
