ACW champ De Lander advises WWE releases to seize indie control

Australian wrestler Steph De Lander, the Awesome Championship Wrestling women's champion, encouraged recently released WWE performers to view their departures as career opportunities. She posted on X that her own 2022 WWE release proved the best development for her career and insisted it need not end their stories. De Lander expanded on the message in a Fox News Digital interview.

De Lander left WWE in 2022 and quickly rose in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where she captured the TNA Digital Media Championship and engaged in prominent rivalries with Matt Cardona and Sami Callihan. After two years sidelined by a serious neck injury, she returned to the ring last month at an ACW event, defeating Indi Hartwell and J-Rod to claim the women's title.

De Lander described the WWE release process as deeply personal, varying by tenure and attachment. She advised wrestlers to process emotions first, then commit fully to independent wrestling. "Now you have an opportunity to re-write your legacy," she said. "When you’re on the indies, you have all of the control."

De Lander faces her next ACW challenge on May 16 at the MJN Convention Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.