Former WWE Tough Enough contestant Gabi Castrovinci, now known as TNA Knockout Raquel, reportedly has “major heat” backstage after a locker room incident in Knockouts’ locker room, according to Daily Wrestling News .
The incident saw Castrovinci act “disrespectful to others at a recent Impact Wrestling tapings,” per the report. As a result of her actions, she was thrown out of the Knockouts’ locker room.
Castrovinci, a Brazilian-born athlete and model, made the final cut to be on WWE’s revival of he hit reality show Tough Enough last year. However, Castrovinci was the fourth elimination from the competition. Since then, she latched on with TNA as Raquel.
Despite getting the opportunity with TNA, Castrovinci’s name has still made headlines in recent weeks. After a recent tag team match for World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW), Castrovinci took her story to TMZ, claiming that she was “assaulted” in the match.
“I really got assaulted, I didn’t expect it,” Castrovinci told TMZ . “Although I was warned that it was going to happen, but I never thought that it would be at that level.”
![[Images via WrestlingNews.co]](http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Gabi-Castrovinci-Injuries-670x501.jpg)
The above pictures of Castrovinci’s bruised and swollen body garnered both sympathy and disdain from the wrestling universe. Some fans felt that there was no reason for somebody to work that “stiff” with Castrovinci, while some wrestlers — such as Lucha Underground’s Cheerleader Melissa— knocked Castrovinci for taking her story public.
“I cracked my tooth and I had to get a root canal and a crown on my tooth … and I have a little hairline fracture on my jaw,” Castrovinci revealed in the interview with TMZ.
As for the reason why Castrovinci was brutalized in her match, she believes jealousy — stemming from her relatively quick success in wrestling — played a role.
“I became very successful in wrestling, I got a huge contract with Impact Wrestling [TNA]. I think that animosity started building up towards me.”
Castrovinci revealed that she considered taking legal action as a result of the injuries but stated that she chose not to do it out of respect for WXW promoter and trainer and WWE Hall of Famer Afa.
This is not the first time that controversy surrounding Castrovinci surfaced. After the conclusion of Tough Enough , it was reported that several names on the show — Castrovinci included — would likely eventually receive developmental contracts from WWE. However, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline reported that Castrovinci would not be signed because “something very troubling about her past came up.”
Meltzer originally said that Tough Enough contestant Giorgia “GiGi” Piscina was the one with a “troubling past.” However, Piscina quickly shot down those rumors on Twitter.
I can assure u there is nothing “BIG” in my past that would have caused #WWE not 2 sign me. Unless being a quiet straight A student is “big”
— Giorgia Piscina (@GiorgiaPiscina) October 28, 2015
Castrovinci followed suit and shot down Meltzer’s report on Twitter, too. She claimed that Meltzer was causing “defamation of character and discrimination” toward her.
Read this bozo @davemeltzerWON pic.twitter.com/M008UhCUu5
— Raquel/Gabi (@RaquelTNA) October 29, 2015
Aside from this incident with Castrovinci, the TNA Knockouts locker room has been a source of news in recent weeks. Awesome Kong was recently fired from the promotion after a backstage incident with Reby Sky, the real-life wife of TNA World Heavyweight champion Matt Hardy.
It remains to be seen if there will be any consequences Castronvici faces for this incident. But, considering an established veteran like Kong was fired for her incident, it might not bode well for the newcomer’s future with the company.
[Image via Impact Wrestling]