Tiffany Stratton Shoots Down Rumors WWE Fired A Wrestler For Flirting With Her (WWE News)

No, Giovanni Vinci wasn't released by WWE for flirting with Tiffany Stratton...

by Andrew Pollard
Giovanni Vinci WWE
WWE.com

Following a bizarre rumour that the reason for Giovanni Vinci's 2025 WWE release was due to him flirting with Tiffany Stratton while she was dating Ludwig Kaiser, Stratton herself has now shot down such talk.

When that topic came up on her latest Twitch stream (via Fightful), Tiffany stated:

"That did not happen. It is not true. There is no truth to that. I hope he's doing amazing. I heard he just signed with TNA. He's going to kill it. Absolutely no truth to that. A complete false accusation."

Having been part of the Cruiseweight Classic in 2016, Giovanni Vinci, under his real name of Fabian Aichner, joined WWE the following year. After initially teaming with Ludwig Kaiser - then going by the Marcel Barthel name - the Italian would bounce between NXT and NXT UK, eventually joining Imperium.

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While Kaiser and Gunther would move to the main roster in April 2022, Aichner would remain in NXT and be rebranded as lavish playboy Giovanni Vinci before rejoining his Imperium buddies later that year at Clash at the Castle, completely dropping the playboy element in the process. The trio would remain together until early 2024, and Vinci was then moved to SmackDown as part of the WWE Draft, where he'd revert to the character he was portraying during his final months in NXT. However, despite reported big plans for Giovanni, he was released by WWE as part of the company's February 2025 round of cuts.

And no, that release was not due to any flirting with Tiffany Stratton...

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As alluded to by Tiffy, the hugely talented Fabian Aichner has recently resurfaced in TNA and has immediately put new X Division Champion Cedric Alexander in his crosshairs.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.