Big Update On Bayley's WWE Return

The Role Model has been out of action for a year.

by Andrew Pollard
Bayley Injury 2021
WWE

With it now over a year since her last match, it appears that Bayley's WWE return is edging ever closer.

As per Fightful Select, a WWE source stated how the Role Model is currently preparing for her return and has been working in-ring as she continues to recover from an ACL injury.

In terms of specifics, that injury was an ACL tear suffered in July 2021 as part of a Performance Center training session WWE put on ahead of a return to touring live events following the Thunderdome Era. Where it pertains to her last televised match, that saw Bayley team with Seth Rollins for a win over Bianca Belair and Cesaro on the 25 June '21 episode of SmackDown.

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Prior to her spell on the sidelines, the one-time Hugger was embroiled in a rivalry with Belair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at that point held by the EST. Since then, Bianca has dropped that prize - losing it to the returning Becky Lynch at last year's SummerSlam - but is nowadays the Raw Women's Champion. As such, it could well be that Bayley's impending return to action will see her targeting Belair and the top gold of the red brand's women's division.

Bayley has long teased her return on social media, with these last few days having some speculating that the multiple-time Women's Champion would be making an appearance at last night's Money in the Bank premium live event - especially since Bayley posted a photo of herself hugging a MITB briefcase.

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Of course, the hugely talented star won the Money in the Bank briefcase back in 2019, going onto cash-in on Charlotte Flair later that same night to become the SmackDown Women's Champion.

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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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.