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Why was Mark Carrano fired? How the controversial Mickie James trash bag incident led to WWE official's doom

'Dear @VinceMcMahon Im not sure if you’re aware, I did receive my @WWE care package today. Thank you. #AlwaysBlessedandGrateful #WomensWrestlingMatters,' tweeted James

WWE has fired Mark Carrano, senior director of talent relations, after he reportedly disrespected Mickie James. Carrano sent James her belongings in a trash bag after she was recently released from her WWE contract. She was with WWE from 2003 to 2010 and from 2016 to 2021. 

Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development Paul Michael Levesque is also known as Triple H took to Twitter to address the issue, seeing that WWE maintains a zero-tolerance policy in such situations and confirmed that Carrano had, in fact, been fired.

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"Upon learning of the disrespectful treatment some of our recently released talent received on behalf of the company, we took immediate action. The person responsible for this inconsiderate action has been fired and is no longer with @WWE," the semi-retired professional wrestler tweeted, in light of the incident.

James' photo sparked the outrage

10 wrestlers were released for WWE on April 15, 2021. Among them was James, who is also a five-time WWE Women's Champion. WWE allegedly sent her a 'care package', which was packed in a trash bag. The former wrestler took to Twitter to call the organization out on the same. "Dear @VinceMcMahon Im not sure if you’re aware, I did receive my @WWE care package today. Thank you. #AlwaysBlessedandGrateful #WomensWrestlingMatters " she tweeted, along with a photo.

'He’s a real douchebag and he knows it'

Turns out, Carrano has had quite the track record with wrestlers and the league in general. Pro wrestler Ryback (Ryan Allen Reeves) mentioned in a 2017 interview with 411 Mania just how much he disliked Carrano. "Last time they were here, no joke, when they were at the new T-Mobile Arena, Mark Carrano, this is already after I walked out on them(WWE), just so everybody knows, Mark Carrano f**king texts me, asking me about the weather in Las Vegas.” Ryback said, with regard to his departure.

He then added, “and, like, there was no communication after that and I was like, ‘why the f**k would you (text that) after I walk out of WWE?’ And it’s funny. And I don’t hate Mark and he has a s**tty job, but he’s a real douchebag and he knows it."

'Don’t blame and fire. That solves nothing'

Concerning the incident, former female pro-wrestlers also took to Twitter to address just how deep the issue runs. Gail Kim Irvine spoke about it at length, recounting her own experiences. "Well I’m glad Hunter took initiative but it’s been happening since before I was there. Is it always the same person? At least they did something I suppose," she tweeted, implying that the issue was bigger than Carrano himself. 

She addressed the fact that there were multiple people responsible for enabling this behavior. "Well we will never know. I definitely believe it’s been many people over the years and if someone was fired it was the person who was sacrificed. If it changes things from this point on, at least it’s something," she tweeted.

She also agreed that this wasn't the first time a situation like this had occurred. "Correct. Change the system and culture. Don’t blame and fire. That solves nothing," she added, seeing that this was not a one-off situation. 

"Well in that case, every girl that worked there for the past ten years plus should get an apology," she replied when a fan mentioned that Stephanie McMahon Levesque, WWE's chief brand officer apologized to James.

Jillian Hall, also took to the platform, seeing that she was disrespected in the exact same manner 10 years ago. "Apparently I blamed the wrong person for my trash bag of ring gear over 10 years ago .. she’s not with the company anymore," she tweeted.

Fans were outraged to see someone like James, who has had such a long-standing career being disrespected in such a manner. "There are good people who make mistakes in life, we are human, no one is perfect. That’s where the majority of us fall under. Then there are people who are legit terrible period but do “nice” things to manipulate and get their way, like Mark Carrano," said a fan.

"@MickieJames is A Legend for god sake !!!!!! You dont even know that being in the business? Mark carrano or anybody working backstage must understand how to treat people #WWE #MickieJamesDeservesBetter" added another.

"Firing Mark Carrano is a huge deal to set a precedent. No more bull shit. The old regime seems to be on the way out one at a time. A big change is coming to the product with @TripleH taking over. Thank god," tweeted a fan.