Bayley‘s WWE future came up on the July 22 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, where Dave Meltzer said the only information he has been given is that she has “a big decision to make.”
Meltzer did not say what the decision involves. Bryan Alvarez responded that the comment pointed to Bayley’s contract running close to expiring, and Meltzer said the deal is not up for months. He watched Saturday Night’s Main Event and came away thinking the match with Lyra Valkyria was a blowoff to the feud. Valkyria’s comments since then reinforced that read for him.
Meltzer also allowed for the opposite outcome. Bayley could return in a couple of weeks, attack Valkyria, and continue the program.
Meltzer and Alvarez compared the situation to Ricochet’s. He was written off WWE television in June 2024 after an attack from Bron Breakker, and he later signed with AEW.
Meltzer said Ricochet had not signed his new WWE deal at the time. As he continued not to sign, people in the company began assuming he was leaving, and stories circulated that he was gone before he had made the decision himself.
Meltzer noted the angle used to write Ricochet off was built so it could have set up a return had he re-signed. Alvarez said he believes the situation is the same. If Bayley re-signs, the Valkyria feud gives WWE a ready-made story to bring her back to. If she does not, the beatdown at Saturday Night’s Main Event already wrote her out.
Valkyria beat Bayley at Saturday Night’s Main Event on July 18, choking her unconscious with a bulldog choke. Valkyria continued the attack after the bell and hit her with a Nightwing onto the steel steps.
Byron Saxton was interviewing Women’s Intercontinental Champion Sol Ruca backstage on the July 20 episode of Raw when Valkyria interrupted. The segment aired during a commercial break and was shown on the international feed on Netflix. Valkyria congratulated Ruca, then said she planned to take the title back after Ruca’s upcoming match against Raquel Rodriguez.
“I’m probably glowing because I dropped the dead weight when I ran Bayley outta here,” Valkyria said.
The two were tag team partners before Valkyria turned on Bayley following a loss in a Women’s Tag Team Championship match. Valkyria accused her parter of dragging down her career on the July 13 episode of Raw and left her lying with Bayley’s own finisher. Mercedes Moné (formerly Sasha Banks) posted an hourglass on social media the following day.
Bayley has not appeared on WWE television since Saturday Night’s Main Event, and WWE has issued no statement on her status.
Bayley signed with WWE in December 2012 and debuted on NXT programming in early 2013. She won the NXT Women’s Championship from Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in August 2015.
Bayley took the Raw Women’s Championship from Charlotte Flair in February 2017. She won the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match in 2019 and cashed in the same night on Flair, becoming the first Women’s Grand Slam Champion in WWE history.
Bayley formed Damage CTRL with Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai in 2022, and the group turned on her in 2024. She won the women’s Royal Rumble that year, then beat Sky for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania XL.
Bayley has given WWE 13 and a half years, and the company may not be the one holding the pen anymore. Valkyria’s promo did the storyline work of writing her out, which is exactly the kind of angle WWE builds when the contract math is uncertain. Ricochet got the same send-off in 2024 and turned up in AEW.
The door swings both ways, though. Meltzer laid out the return scenario himself, and it takes one Raw segment to walk Bayley back through it. The first Women’s Grand Slam Champion in company history does not slip out the back quietly, and the Valkyria feud is sitting right there the moment she signs. The next few months decide which version of this gets told.
If you love sports, download Stadium Rant from the Apple App Store and join one of the fastest-growing social sports communities. Be sure to follow us on socials too — you can find all our profiles on our Linktree.
