Lyra Valkyria says Bayley is gone for good, and she wants the credit.
Valkyria beat Bayley at Saturday Night’s Main Event on July 18 at Madison Square Garden, choking her out with a bulldog choke after Bayley passed out rather than tap. She reapplied the hold after the bell, then hit the Nightwing on the steel steps. Bayley has not been on television since.
Speaking to Adrian Hernandez of Unlikely, Valkyria was asked about Bayley’s future.
She’s done. She’s gone. I did it. She’s never coming back.
It is not the first time. On the July 20 Raw she interrupted a Sol Ruca interview with a version of the same line.
I’m probably glowing because I dropped the dead weight when I ran Bayley outta here.
The reason the promo keeps getting attention has little to do with the storyline. Bayley’s WWE contract is believed to expire in the fourth quarter of this year, which would make her a free agent around October. Neither Bayley nor WWE has said anything publicly, and the Wrestling Observer has been clear that nobody outside the company knows which way it goes.
The angle was built to work either way. An open-ended beatdown can write someone off for good or set up a return whenever WWE wants one.
There is also evidence against Valkyria’s version. Bayley attacked her at live events in Stockton and Bakersfield the following weekend, turning both into triple threats with Ruca, who retained each time. On this week’s Main Event, commentary openly wondered whether Valkyria had seen the last of her.
Valkyria turned on Bayley on the June 22 Raw after months of speculation that the betrayal would run the other way. She was the inaugural Women’s Intercontinental Champion and has said she intends to take the title back from Ruca.
