After failing to capture the Money in the Bank briefcase at WWE Money in the Bank 2020 in May, Carmella disappeared off television for months.
In September 2020, vignettes began to air to hype her upcoming return, but she didn't get back in the ring until December 2020.
Speaking to Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Carmella discussed sitting at home and her change in character from the Princess of Staten Island to a more mature version.
"When I was sitting at home, there was no rhyme or reason. It was just, 'we don't have anything for you right now. Stay at home until we have a good story.' Cool. They said my character needed a 'fresh coat of paint' and at first I'm like, 'I love my character and don't want to change.' Then I thought it was a good thing to change and show some growth. If I was going to have a new character, I wanted something that would resonate and something I would feel. I made vignettes at home, hired people, created them, and sent them to WWE. They were like, 'this is great, we love it, this is what we're going to do.' I thought keeping the Princess of Staten Island and, for the lack of a better term, make her the Queen. I know I'm not the Queen, Charlotte is the Queen, don't get me wrong. Just (making Carmella) grown up a little and embracing that. That's what we did. The videos I made were a lot different than the vignettes that ended up being out there but things always end up getting changed. That's fine. You just take it and do with it what you will and make the most of it. I just knew I wanted to return and make a statement. That's what I did. I had an idea for a new entrance and I wanted to be different. I loved my old entrance song so at first, it felt weird to not be excited and moonwalking, but I wanted to do something different so I ripped off an old Madonna video. I was doing the same character for seven years but it's still part of me and part of Carmella, you just have to grow up a little sometimes," she said.
Carmella declared herself as "untouchable" upon her return, an updated version of her Mella is Money character.
When asked how long after she had sent the vignettes in that she got a response, Carmella said, "It was probably two months. It took a while for them to look at the video. I sent it to them and some of the right people saw it but were like, 'we can't get it until Vince signs off on it.' Finally, I was like, 'I'm just gonna send it to Vince. I'm not waiting anymore, I want to get back to work.' He ended up liking it and obviously, he made tweaks and changes."
She was eventually aligned with Reginald, a sommelier who tended to Carmella's love of fine wine. The pairing came as a surprise to her.
"I wanted to have a bodyguard and they were like, 'we'll get there, and then one day I show up and I have a sommelier. I'm like, 'what is happening? I didn't pitch for a sommelier, but let's do it.' We thought it was a one-time thing and he ended up sticking around and now he's on Raw," she said.
Reginald is currently aligned with Nia Jax on WWE Raw. As for Carmella, she is now the self-proclaimed most beautiful woman in WWE and remains that way even in defeat.
If you missed anything from WWE SmackDown, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
