Bayley went down with an ACL tear back in July while training at the WWE Performance Center for her SmackDown Women’s Championship match with Bianca Belair scheduled for the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. Since then “The Role Model” has been mostly absent from WWE television, though she did provide an update via a recent Instagram live stream. She refrained from giving details on the ACL, only saying that she’ll be back “soon.”
“People are asking how my knee is,” she said (h/t POST Wrestling). “So my knee is doing great, my leg’s doing great, my ankle’s doing great, my calf is doing great, my shin is doing great, my hip is doing great. My mind is doing great, so I mean it’s only a matter of time and I’m not gonna tell you when and I don’t want all these idiots watching to know when. But, I’m gonna be coming back soon, maybe, you know and y’all better be ready. Better be ready.”
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The multi-time women’s champion was unquestionably one of the MVPs of WWE’s ThunderDome era, putting on excellent matches both alongside and against Sasha Banks while holding the SmackDown Women’s Championship for a record 520 days across two reigns. Banks talked about Bayley’s recovery in an interview with the New York Post back in October.ย
“When I speak to Bayley it’s so hard and frustrating because, man, she got hurt (ACL injury) a week before we were going back to the fans. So she’s already telling me she hasn’t wrestled in front of fans for almost two years,” Banks said. “Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that feeling? And after someone like her who has absolutely killed the game, is on top of her game right now, just to get taken out like that is so hard to see. Everything happens for a reason. I know she’s gonna come back better than ever. Her mind is more focused than ever and I just can’t wait for her to return.”
WWE returns to pay-per-view on New Year’s Day with the Day 1 event. Check out the full lineup (so far) for the show below!
- WWE Univeral Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
- WWE Championship: Big E vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
- SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The Usos vs. The New Day
- Edge vs. The Miz
