WWE Diva Kaitlyn Leaves World Wrestling Entertainment

According to WWE.com, former Divas champion Kaitlyn has parted ways with the company.

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As of Jan. 8, Kaitlyn (Celeste Bonin) will no longer be under contract with WWE. The former Divas Champion has chosen to pursue other endeavors outside the sports-entertainment world. 

WWE wishes Kaitlyn the best in all her future endeavors.

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The announcement comes as a big surprise.

The NXT Season Three winner was greatly improving as an in-ring competitor. Her matches with Eve Torres over the Divas title in late 2012 and early 2013 gave way to a title reign that saw the Houston, Texas native continue to get better with every passing week.

Kaitlyn blended raw power—the result of her bodybuilding days—with impressive agility and had utilized the high-impact spear to down her opponents.

This past June at WWE Payback, she defended her title against AJ Lee in an outstanding match that showed a glimmer of hope for fans of female wrestling. It was a solidly worked bout that was ultimately won by Lee.

The two would continue feuding over the title for the three months that followed, culminating in a mixed tag match at SummerSlam in August that saw Kaitlyn team with Dolph Ziggler to defeat Lee and Big E Langston.

Since then, she has been absent from programming for the most part, appearing in multi-Diva tag matches as the company focuses its attention on the cast of its hit reality program, Total Divas.

Kaitlyn later addressed her departure on her Twitter account:

The loss of Kaitlyn from the roster is a disappointment more in terms of her potential to become a really good in-ring worker than anything. She was hardly being used at this point, so that is no big deal, but the company has lost out on the opportunity to have its next breakout female worker—and one who can really deliver between the ropes when called upon.

It remains to be seen what the endeavors outside of sports-entertainment are that the former Divas champion will partake in, but her history as a bodybuilder and the international exposure she gained as a WWE star could open more doors in that world.