Indi Hartwell on keeping name after WWE release: ‘I just asked’

While appearing on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Indi Hartwell detailed how she was able to keep her in-ring name after being released by WWE.

“Indi Hartwell” is what Samantha De Martin has been known as since starting her career on the Australian indies, but she sold the name to WWE during her time with the company. She explained on Insight how she was able to get the rights back after her release.

“I just asked,” Hartwell responded when asked about keeping her name. “This is how it went — so I’ve had this name my whole wrestling career. When I started at NXT, when you start wrestling on live events, they make you wrestle under your real name. So I wrestled under my real name for a bit. And then I think I had a dark match at NXT. And I just asked Road Dogg, like, ‘Can I be Indi Hartwell for this?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll ask. Why not?’ And then they let me be Indi Hartwell for the dark match. And then it kind of just like kept going. And then I got on TV with it. I got my action figure with that name. I got in the game with that name.

“And then I think it was when NXT 2.0 started, they went through that whole weird thing of like, you have to — you can’t have your real name and you also can’t have a name that we don’t own. So they gave me the option to change my name or sell it to them. So I sold it to them. And then it was always in the back of my mind like, oh my gosh, if I get released, like what name am I going to be? Like that’s a big deal to me. So then when I got the call that I was being released, they said, ‘Ok, yeah, we’re releasing you.’ I said, ‘Ok, cool, so I sold my name to the company. Is there any way I can get that back?’ And then we got it all figured out. I got the rights and stuff to it.”

Hartwell said she’s grateful she was able to get the rights back because “Indi” is what most people know her as. Keeping her name gave her one less thing to worry about and made her transition into post-WWE life easier.

After being released by WWE in November 2024, Hartwell returned to the indies this March. She has since signed with TNA Wrestling as the newest member of the Knockouts division. Hartwell made her first TNA appearance at Rebellion on April 27.

The 28-year-old Hartwell told Van Vliet that she’s always been a fan of TNA. She wants to win gold in the company and has her sights on challenging Masha Slamovich for the Knockouts World Championship. Going back to WWE in the future is something she isn’t closing the door on if the opportunity presents itself, but her focus right now is on TNA.

Another one of Hartwell’s goals is to grow her YouTube channel and let fans see more of her real self. She’s been uploading regular vlogs with the latest episode covering her TNA debut: