Carmella was being punished with recent WWE gimmick, claims veteran (Exclusive)

Carmella has been out of action for almost two years after the former WWE Women's Champion announced that she was expecting her first child with husband Corey Graves.

Carmella welcomed her son Dimitri last year but has noted recently that she had a complicated birth, and as a result, she now has a condition called "drop foot." This condition affects the nerves in her feet and means she has a lot of medical boxes to check before she will be allowed to enter the ring again.

Vince Russo recently opened up about Carmella's WWE run on Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws and noted that she had been handed some really bad creative ideas. Russo even claimed that her masked character was created as punishment.

"They just put a lot of bad gimmicks with her. She was with Reggie for a while, and bro, remember they had her wearing the mask... I'm telling you that rib came from her. One day she was probably in the makeup chair a few minutes longer than somebody wanted her to be and they thought, let's put a mask on her for six months, so I mean they've really saddled her with some bad creative." (3:40-47)

Former WWE star EC3 also spoke about Carmella, making it clear that she didn't need to rush back and that being a parent was the most important job.

"Carmella, you're a mother, you don't have to rush it. The pro wrestling will be there when you're ready." (2.51-55)

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When will Carmella return to WWE?

This appears to be the question on everyone's lips as The Royal Rumble edges closer, but it seems that with Alexa Bliss, Charlotte, Asuka, Becky Lynch, and several others already looking to make their returns in the near future, Carmella could be looking at much later in the year.

It will be interesting to see if she is placed on the same brand as her husband, Corey Graves, when she does return to WWE.