Backstage heat seems to be the main focal point as to why on-screen personality Charly Caruso and the WWE are parting ways, ending her 5-year tenure with the company. Real name Charly Arnot, WWE isn’t her first foray as a broadcast journalist, as she also currently works for ESPN, whether or not she’ll explore opportunities in other promotions to continue her line of work is another question, however.
According to Sportskeeda.com, “the reason for Caruso’s departure is her backstage heat with many people in the company. PWInsider noted earlier that Charly Caruso is expected to be done with Vince McMahon’s company once her contract expires. As per Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, the rumours concerning her not being used on TV anymore may not be the full story. There is also a chance she might have already been fired by WWE.” Caruso has already been replaced on RAWTalk by Kevin Patrick, changing up the dynamic that many of the WWE Universe became accustomed to on the WWE Network exclusive program, as plenty of fans have grown an attachment to Caruso as they did with former WWE backstage interviewer and commentator Renee Young.
Speaking of Renee Young, real name Renee Paquette, she was another notable on-screen personality that left WWE, albeit on her terms though. There was no backstage heat with Renee Young, and surprisingly there were no attempts at burying her on television either, especially since husband Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose) left WWE and joined rival promotion AEW soon after. Renee’s last appearance (not counting her special appearance on the returning WWE Backstage in January 2020) was during SummerSlam 2020 and went on record detailing her reasoning as to why she decided to part ways with WWE after eight years with the company.
Appearing on Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast; “I’ve been there for eight years and I kinda did everything I could do. I felt like I was bouncing around and continually trying to carve this path out for myself and I feel like I hit my ceiling. My strength is being a TV host and as I’ve realized more and more that after doing commentary for a year plus, that was really rocky for me. I didn’t enjoy doing it and then not really having a solid role on SmackDown when I was listed as being a Special Contributor, whatever that’s supposed to mean”.
Renee would also go on to add that, “There was nothing for me to do anymore especially when Backstage got cancelled with FS1. I was really enjoying doing that and I’m gonna still be doing stuff with FOX going forward so that’s really cool. I feel like I had checked all of the boxes and I turned over every card that I could there. I didn’t want to waste any more time. I’m about to turn 35 and I’ve done a bunch of stuff there so it’s time to move on. If I wanna keep growing and getting better and finding a bigger platform to be on, I felt like that wasn’t the place to do it anymore”
While no statement has been made as of yet on Charly’s end, it seems as though there is more backstage heat on her than her previous peers, as well as her antics in showing up late and having heat with WWE Superstars and other WWE brass. If that’s the case, then perhaps Caruso just didn’t have much of a care for the promotion or her coworkers, which is not the type of behaviour nor attitude to have, nor should you want to have that reputation on your way out, as it could potentially tarnish your career or possible opportunities in the future.
Whatever that case may be, there has to be some type of reasoning as to why Charly went about things how she did, and perhaps she shares the same sentiment as Renee, yet went about dealing with her issues in the wrong way. Perhaps WWE needs to figure out a way to offer not only the talent on their roster(s) more opportunities but their other on-screen talents as well to avoid future incidents of those leaving out of frustration. Lack of growth can be a major issue within a company, especially when you believe that you have so much to offer, but aren’t given the tools necessary to succeed.