Why did Eve Torres leave WWE before the 2013 Royal Rumble?

As Geno Mrosko reported here before Raw on Monday night, Eve Torres was expected to drop the WWE Divas Championship to Kaitlyn at the show and then leave the company. The title change did indeed happen, which was quickly followed by a WWE App exclusive angle where a paranoid Eve quit the company in an interview with Matt Striker and her own personal video where she knocked off the heel character, confirmed the news and thanked WWE fans for all their support over the years.

This decision wasn't a surprise for WWE management, as they've been bracing themselves for her departure ever since she got engaged to Rener Gracie on Sep. 23rd. With Eve getting increasingly involved in the Gracie family business, everyone in WWE was well aware that she was preparing for life after wrestling and knew it wouldn't be too long before she left the company to become the female face of the Gracie Jiu Jitsu martial arts / self defence programs.

However, the timing still seemed a bit rushed coming just two weeks before the 2013 Royal Rumble, which seemed the natural place to blow off the lengthy feud between Eve and Kaitlyn. Surely Eve would have been happy to stick around just 13 days longer to get a pay-per-view bonus?

That was the original plan, but according to Dave Meltzer on his subscriber only Jan. 17th Wrestling Observer Radio show, the passing of the guard was moved forward because Eve insisted on putting over Kaitlyn in her home town of Houston, despite this kind gesture costing her thousands of dollars in the pocket book. Torres deserves to be richly praised for such a classy and selfless move and in general for how professionally she handled her WWE exit, working hard till the final day. She will be sorely missed in the heavily depleted WWE Divas division.