WWE star Bayley opens up about long-awaited match against AJ Lee: 'Universe works in mysterious ways'

WWE prima Bayley earned the accidental to situation AJ Lee for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship earlier this week erstwhile she won a gauntlet lucifer connected "Monday Night Raw."

The match, which volition instrumentality spot connected Monday, is astir 13 years successful the making. The past clip the 2 nonrecreational wrestlers competed against each different was connected Aug. 21, 2013, for the Divas Championship. Lee, a seasoned astatine that point, got the amended of Bayley, who was inactive a newcomer.

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Bayley celebrates her triumph with Lyra Valkyria aft the Woman's Gauntlet Match during Monday Night RAW astatine Climate Pledge Arena connected March 9, 2026 successful Seattle, Washington.  (Meg Oliphant/WWE via Getty Images)

A batch has changed since then. Lee departed the institution successful 2015 portion Bayley went connected to go a four-time women’s champion and two-time women’s tag squad champion. Bayley helped signifier the WWE women’s part into what it is presently. The Women’s Intercontinental Championship wasn’t adjacent a glimmer successful anyone’s oculus 5 years agone fto unsocial 13 years ago.

Lee returned to WWE successful September, perchance putting the 2 wrestling greats connected a collision people with each different astatine immoderate point. With Lee winning the rubric against Becky Lynch, Bayley was capable to solidify her way toward a accidental astatine title gold.

"Man, it’s truthful weird. So weird to think, it’s conscionable similar the beingness works successful mysterious ways," Bayley told Fox News Digital successful a caller interview. "I retrieve 13 years ago, getting that substance that I would beryllium wrestling AJ Lee for the divas rubric and I had conscionable started my quality worldly connected NXT. I retrieve that seeming like, ‘What bash you mean? What americium I? Why? What? This can’t beryllium possible.’ And that’s benignant of what I consciousness similar now, conscionable due to the fact that cipher thought that AJ was going to travel back, fto unsocial determination beryllium an intercontinental women’s championship, fto unsocial she’d beryllium the champion oregon ever."

"It conscionable seems similar 1 of those things wherever she would conscionable travel backmost arsenic a 1 time, imagination lucifer benignant thing," she continued. "And adjacent erstwhile she did travel back, and I’ve told this to her, I was conscionable blessed to person her around. We’ve kept successful interaction these past 10 years and been existent friends extracurricular of the concern and conscionable to deliberation that present I get to beryllium successful the ringing with her, I wasn’t like, ‘I request to person a lucifer with you,’ due to the fact that I got my match. I conscionable wanted to person my person astir and the information that we got to bash this now, it conscionable seems right. Now, I’m like, ‘Of people we’re expected to person this lucifer together.’

Bayley with an elbow driblet to Ivy Nile successful the Womans Gauntlet Match during Monday Night RAW astatine Climate Pledge Arena connected March 9, 2026 successful Seattle, Washington. (Meg Oliphant/WWE via Getty Images)

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"I would love, love, emotion to triumph this title due to the fact that I person to decorativeness my expansive slam role. I gotta get this one. I gotta get to the United States 1 and I gotta get to WrestleMania. So, I person a batch of feelings going into this and I kinda person to enactment speech the nostalgia feeling of it."

Lee’s instrumentality was a daze to the WWE Universe erstwhile she teamed up with her real-life husband, CM Punk, to instrumentality connected Lynch and Seth Rollins. Still, for galore WWE fans, Lee’s instrumentality inactive seems unreal.

She returned connected an occurrence of "Friday Night SmackDown," which took spot successful Chicago astatine the time. Bayley told Fox News Digital she was successful the metropolis filming thing and heard the rumors that Lee whitethorn person been returning.

Even arsenic champion of friends, Bayley said Lee ne'er tipped her hand.

"She did not accidental thing to me," she said. "I had heard rumors. I’m a large believer and I clasp a batch of anticipation for a batch of things that I genuinely consciousness and I conscionable truthful happened to beryllium successful Chicago to movie thing that time for SmackDown and I was like, I’m conscionable going to instrumentality around. I don’t request to spell backmost to my hotel. I’m conscionable going to instrumentality astir and yeah, I was right. And I’m truthful blessed that I followed my bosom but she was precise quiescent astir it."

AJ Lee returns to SmackDown astatine Allstate Arena connected September 5, 2025 successful Rosemont, Illinois. (Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)

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Soon, the 2 volition conscionable successful a imagination lucifer of sorts.

Bayley and Lee volition look disconnected with the Women’s Intercontinental Championship connected the enactment Monday nighttime connected RAW. It tin beryllium seen connected Netflix, starting astatine 8 p.m. ET.

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