On social media, the former Women’s Champion shared her thoughts on Lee and the match itself, writing that Lee has a special impact on the industry because of who she is outside of it.
“But if I never had the conversation with AJ back in 2013 where she told me to stay true to who I am, I don’t know if I would’ve made it this far. I don’t even know if I would’ve made it past my first month in NXT. So, losing the match sucks. But sharing the ring again with someone who saw me for who I was, uplifted me, believed in me, and has supported me ever since, that was the magic,” she wrote.
“@theajmendez, you are NEVER….and I want you to read this carefully and really focus…..you are never allowed to leave,” she continued. “We must giggle together at the monitor til we have to really break out our walkers.”
The two wrestled for the first time in over a decade on Monday, with Lee defeating Bayley to retain the Women’s Intercontinental title. It continued a story of Bayley coming up short as WrestleMania draws near, leaving her without many avenues to take in order to get to Las Vegas. Following the loss her tag team partner Lyra Valkyria consoled her, saying they would find a way to get there together.
The crossover of wrestlers from the WWE main roster to Lucha Libre AAA continued last weekend with Bayley making her surprise AAA debut.
Bayley competed at the March 14 event in Puebla, Mexico, answering Flammer’s challenge for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship. On Raw Recap this week, Bayley reflected on the moment, calling it an an honor to be chosen to represent WWE and face someone of Flammer’s stature.
“That was the best. I love wrestling in Mexico,” Bayley said. “That’s the thing, you can’t ever be content or comfortable. I just want to do more and I want to meet more people, I want to perform in front of more people. And the fact that I got asked to do that was an honor. For one thing, it’s one of their biggest shows of the year and against one of their, the Women’s Champion who just broke a record and became the longest-reigning Women’s Champion. To me, that’s a huge honor and is a little tip of the cap to me. It’s hard in this business to actually keep it a secret, so I was very excited to be able to hide from everybody and really show up where literally nobody knew I was there.”
Bayley was grateful for how the audience responded and emphasized that the promotion itself doesn’t matter as long as she gets to do what she loves — and that’s wrestling.
“I was personally very overwhelmed by the response, and it just made everything so worth it,” she said. “I could be upset about the loss and those little cheaters [Maravilla and La Hiedra], who I’m not going to let them get away with. I have their numbers. But that is what was most important to me that no matter what, everywhere in the world, people recognize how much and what I feel about this and that I don’t care if I do it here, I don’t care if I do it there, I don’t care if I do it in TNA. I care about this and I will always give my whole heart to them. They will always get the real me.”
When asked about the difference between WWE-dedicated audiences and those who have been exposed to lucha libre, Bayley responded:
“It’s one of those things where I love lucha libre. I’ve always been a fan of AAA. One of my trainers from back home, his name is Jason Styles, is a huge fan, would constantly reference AAA as we were training. He was very, very into lucha. And so when he found out that I was on it, he really freaked out.
“So for my old trainer to freak out about me being able to wrestle for this company and to see how it’s mixed into, now that WWE is a part of it as well. To watch them keep this true spirit of lucha libre and what that company means to Mexico but also bring in the WWE audience and the superstars and the people backstage, and give that little spin on it. I couldn’t talk about it enough. I was in the back, this is just the perfect combination of what I love, you know, the stories, the characters, the physicality, and the crowd. The real thing was them, the audience, getting so excited for every little thing and not overthinking what wrestling should be.”
AAA was acquired by WWE in 2025 and now has a television deal with Fox Latin America. Flammer, who retained against Bayley at Rey de Reyes, has been the company’s Women’s Champion since August 2023.
In her WWE career, Bayley is already a Grand Slam Champion and is seeking to add more accolades to her list of accomplishments. She mentioned on Raw Recap that she would like to win the Women’s Tag Team titles with Lyra Valkyria, along with going after the Women’s Intercontinental and United States titles. She challenge for the IC title on Raw last night but lost to AJ Lee.
In the opening match of the night, former women’s champion Bayley answered Lady Flammer’s open challenge. To a roaring crowd reaction, Bayley made her way down to the ring and challenged Flammer for her Reina de Reinas Championship.
Flammer has held the Reina de Reinas title since August 2023 and became the longest-reigning Reina de Reinas champion after defeating Bayley to continue her title reign.
The final moments of the match saw Maravilla and La Hiedra of Los Toxicas interfere and attack Bayley, giving Flammer an advantage during the match. She took the opportunity and defeated Bayley via pinfall to secure her title run.
Despite the loss in Puebla, Bayley is scheduled to challenge AJ Lee for her women’s Intercontinental title on the March 16th edition of RAW.
Mercedes Mone held a training session for aspiring wrestlers.
While in Italy for a March 8 show with BestYa Wrestling, Mone posted photos from the session showing her working with a group of wrestlers in the ring. According to a post by Ibou of the Self Made podcast, Mone did not charge a fee to attend.
Mercedes Moné is hosting a FREE wrestling seminar in Italy!
She gives back to the industry in so many different ways it’s crazy🐐🐐🐐
In December 2025, Bayley conducted the Lodestone Wrestling Seminar which welcomed aspiring wrestlers to hone their craft free of charge. Its success was acknowledged by the world for the efforts put into the development of upcoming talent and encouraging accessibility within the industry.
Mercedes Mone is widely known for her WWE tenure and contributions to being an integral part of the women’s revolution in wrestling in 2015. Her then-colleague Bayley also played a significant role in the transition of how women were portrayed in WWE and the industry. The two real-life friends continue to extend support despite being on separate promotions.
Mone’s WWE run was abruptly disrupted in May 2022 after a walkout from an edition of Raw, with Naomi by her side. The move ended her decade-long association with the company. However, that did not stop her from refining her in-ring skills. While working on other non-wrestling ventures, Mone soon began competing in NJPW and other independent promotions before eventually signing with AEW in 2024.
Nikki Blackheart discussed her WWE tryout during a recent interview.
The former CCW (Coastal Championship Wrestling) Champion spoke with O’Shea Jackson Jr. & TJ Jefferson on the No Contest Wrestling Podcast. She talked about the tryout, which was made public via her Instagram a few weeks ago, and how her participation in Bayley’s Lodestone Wrestling Seminar in December 2025 helped prepare her.
Blackheart said:
“Well the rumors are true. It’s a lot of work. Yes, you have to be ready for it. You have to be ready for it. And I will say I had 3 weeks to really prepare, but honestly because I was just in that mindset already, especially after Lodestone, like I saw how intensely we went. I mean, we were there for hours. We ended up, you know, the first day we were there with Ivy (Nile) and her husband and they ran us through a CrossFit workout and then, you know, we just changed and got in the ring right after that for hours.
And that hard work is a little glimpse of what to expect, not only in the tryout, but the training that you would get, you know, when you’re preparing to be in the PC. So, after seeing that, I was just like, “Okay, you know, there’s a lot more that I should be doing and could be doing.” revealed Blackheart.
“So, if I’m being honest, I just started really preparing from there but truly getting in the ring and doing that type of cardio probably 3 weeks in advance. But, yeah, it’s a lot of cardio. There’s a lot of in-ring cardio. Promos, I mean, your promos have to be on point, too. And then for people that were experienced, cuz they divided us into two sections.
So, there’s the independent talent that have experience in wrestling, and then we had athletes that never stepped in the ring before. So we got, you know, separated into groups. The ones that had experience, we did practice matches. and then, you know, the athletes were learning their roles, their bumps, and all that good stuff.”
Blackheart emphasized how her growth over the past year enabled her to put her best foot forward for the tryout. Had it been done earlier, she probably would not have been ready.
“So, I will say the biggest thing is just again, be ready cuz if you get that call and let’s say they’re like, “Oh yeah, you, you know, you get to try out next week.” A week is not enough time to get that, you know, cardio going. I don’t think three weeks but because I had already been in that mindset and working towards it, it wasn’t very difficult.
Yes. But I was still hanging. So that made me feel really good because if you would have asked me this like last year, I don’t know how, you know, we would have been huffing and puffing a little bit more last year.”
Blackheart made her wrestling debut in 2024 and was trained by WWE alum Gangrel at the CCW training center.
The Women’s Intercontinental title will be on the line next week.
Bayley won the gauntlet match on Raw, earning the championship match against AJ Lee next week when Raw heads to San Antonio. The finish of the match saw Asuka trap Bayley with the Asuka lock, but Bayley managed to escape and countered with the rose plant. Other competitors in the match included Ivy Nile, Raquel Rodriguez, Lyra Valykria, and IYO SKY.
On last week’s Raw, Lee celebrated her title win that took place at Elimination Chamber but also took time to throw out the challenge for anyone in the locker room to face her, saying that the next time she steps in the ring it will be to defend the title. Multiple talent backstage expressed interest in challenging AJ, setting up the gauntlet match.
The two Americanos will meet next week when the Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable) will meet the second El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser). On this week’s show, the first Americano was set to challenge Penta for the IC title but ran into Danhausen. Much like his meeting with Dominik Mysterio, Danhausen didn’t take being rejected by Americano well and put a curse on him as the second Americano’s henchmen were nearby. When it came time for the title match, the second Americano emerged to take the original’s spot. Despite the ploy, it was all for nothing as Penta successfully defended the title.
Here is the updated lineup for next week’s Raw:
WWE Raw (March 16):
Roman Reigns will appear
Brock Lesnar will appear
Women’s Intercontinental title: AJ Lee defends against Bayley
The partnership between WWE and TNA Wrestling could lead to Bayley accomplishing a childhood dream.
During a recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, Bayley said her dream growing up was to do everything possible in WWE — from character work, to matches, to silly segments like obstacle courses. She also aspired to wrestle in TNA one day given how much she loved the Knockouts division during its golden era.
“That makes me happy,” Bayley said about WWE expanding its horizon with different partnerships. “I would love to dip my toes in TNA and AAA and all these things. If we have the doors to do that, I would love to.
“TNA was one of my dreams as a kid. I loved the Knockouts division. They were like the hottest division for so long. Gail Kim’s one of my favorites. I’ve done a tryout for TNA like years ago, 2010 or something. The Knockouts division has always been a dream.”
The WWE-TNA partnership has largely been focused on NXT so far, so that could be a barrier toward Bayley crossing over into the promotion.
Bayley told Busted Open that, while she doesn’t know everything about wrestling, she’s loving the mentor position that she’s growin into in WWE. She’s passing along lessons she’s learned from people like Naomi, Natalya, and John Cena during her career.
On Raw tonight, Bayley is participating in a number one contender’s gauntlet match against IYO SKY, Raquel Rodriguez, Asuka, Ivy Nile, and Lyra Valkyria. The winner earns a title shot against Women’s Intercontinental Champion AJ Lee.
Bayley is still hoping that she’ll be able to share the ring with Mercedes Mone again — but she’s less confident about the possibility than she used to be.
During an interview with TalkSport, Bayley was asked if she and Mone will ever face off in another match. The two close friends have been in opposite promotions since Mone left WWE and eventually joined AEW. Whether Mone ever returns to WWE or not, all that Bayley cares about is that she’s happy.
“I would hope so,” Bayley said about facing Mone again. “I don’t know deep down. I used to feel deep down that – Yes. But now I don’t know. I just all I can do is hold on to hope, which is what I’m best at. And as long as she’s happy, I’m happy.”
When they were in WWE together, Bayley and Mone had one of the most influential matches in recent company history at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in 2015. The two also made history by becoming the first WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions after the belts were reintroduced in 2019.
Mone has been on a wrestling hiatus since the end of last year, but she’s gearing up for her return. She’s booked a slate of upcoming indie dates in countries like the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Poland, and Canada. A date for when she’ll be returning to AEW programming has not been announced yet.
During WrestleMania week this April, Bayley will be holding her second Lodestone Women’s Wrestling seminar for up-and-coming independent wrestlers.
Bayley has announced when the next Lodestone Women’s Wrestling Seminar will take place.
In a video posted to social media, she revealed that the first class of 2026 will be held during WrestleMania Week in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 16. The session will run from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Bayley said:
“Lodestone Women is back, and we’re calling to all experienced female wrestlers. It doesn’t matter your level of experience because we want to see you this April in Las Vegas, Nevada.”
“I just can’t wait. This is something I’ve been really excited about for a few months now, so please email [email protected] and I cannot wait to see all of you there.”
The first Lodestone Women’s Wrestling Camp, run by Bayley, took place over three days in Orlando, Florida from December 4 to December 6, 2025. Among those who attended the camp were Bayley’s former superfan Izzy Moreno, Janai Kai, Dani Mo, Brooke Havok, and Nikki Blackheart. Guest coaches included John Cena, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Natalya, and Lyra Valkyria.
LODESTONE WOMEN 2026 IS FINALLY HERE!!! Free of charge
In her WWE career, it’s sometimes hard for Bayley to feel like she has a purpose.
Bayley recently spoke with No-Contest Wrestling at WWE 2K26 Creator Fest and opened up about how great of an experience her first Lodestone Wrestling seminar was. As much as it benefitted the attendees, Bayley also got a ton out of the weekend. There’s still so much more that she’s hoping to accomplish in WWE, but Bayley feels like she’s “stealing money” and not being useful sometimes. This seminar allowed her to help out and give back to other wrestlers.
“I’ve been in WWE for 13 years now and I’ve done so much, but I feel like I still have so much more to do, more things I want to accomplish,” Bayley said. “And I still have so much passion for this. But I don’t always have control over that, you know? I don’t write the shows. I don’t put myself in these matches. Sometimes it’s hard to feel, like, purposeful. It’s hard to feel like I’m being useful, you know? I kind of feel like I’m just here stealing money. Like, I want it, so I needed to feel like I was doing something.
“And Lodestone kind of helped me in that, where I’m still so passionate and want to help. And this kind of fed my — I talked to Chad Gable about this — but fed my child-like wonder. Where it’s like, that’s kid Bayley in me that’s just like, ‘I want to wrestle and I want to be around people who love it and that feel the same way.’ Because when you’re at a certain level, it’s business, you know? But when you come to a place like Lodestone, it felt very much like just hanging out with your friends and doing something that you love and everybody getting better.”
The seminar took place in Orlando in December 2025 and was open to indie wrestlers who already have experience competing in the ring. Bayley paid for all expenses aside from travel, and WWE stars John Cena, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Natalya, and Lyra Valkyria stopped by to spend some time with the attendees.
Bayley told No-Contest Wrestling that the first Lodestone weekend was bigger than she ever could have imagined. She’s already putting plans in place for a second seminar in Las Vegas.
“What I really wanted was to help these indie girls out. Didn’t want them to pay anything aside from coming out, because I know on the independents there’s not a lot of money there. It’s a lot of doing stuff for yourself and paying for things yourself just to get your name out there,” Bayley said. “So I wanted to help them out in that way. But mainly just building a community and having girls that, like, on the indies it’s hard to meet girls or mentors that really have the best interest at heart for you. And seeing their bond is just so beautiful. We have a group chat and they message each other all the time. All the girls are sending matches or promos. Like, ‘Hey, can you guys let me know what you think of this?’ It’s a beautiful little community that, you know, there’s 23 of us together. And I’m so excited to see it grow.”
Working behind the scenes in WWE is a role that Bayley could be interested in whenever her days in the ring are over. She’s part of a tag team with Lyra Valkyria at the moment but does not have a WrestleMania 42 direction locked in yet.
WWE star Bayley is already putting plans in place to hold a second edition of her Lodestone women’s wrestling camp.
The inaugural Lodestone weekend, held in Orlando in December 2025, was a seminar open to indie wrestlers with prior experience. After choosing the attendees from a group of applicants, Bayley paid for all expenses except for travel. John Cena, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Natalya, and Lyra Valkyria all made surprise visits during the seminar and spent time with the indie prospect.
Bayley documented the first Lodestone weekend in a YouTube vlog. It ends with the announcement that there will be another camp taking place in Las Vegas in 2026. No dates have been announced yet, but it presumably will be happening during WrestleMania week this April.
“This first Lodestone seminar camp experience has just exceeded all of my expectations,” Bayley said. “And I already felt while I was reading the emails and while I was going through everything that I’m going to need to do this again, because the list that I have is so long. There are so many talented women out there. This is definitely something that I’m going to continue to do.”
Flatbacks — a wrestling school run by Shawn Spears and Tyler Breeze — hosted the first camp. The Lodestone name is a reference to a magnetite that some believe helps with attraction and manifestation.
Establishing her own wrestling school is a long-term goal for Bayley, who would also be open to potentially working behind the scenes in WWE whenever her in-ring career ends. She is part of a tag team with Lyra Valkyria at the moment, with both confirmed as entrants for the 2026 women’s Royal Rumble match this Saturday.
Bayley’s love for professional wrestling is the main thing fueling her WWE longevity.
While appearing on the Toronto Sun’s No Holds Barred podcast, Bayley was asked how she’s been able to stay successful nearly 15 years after first signing with WWE. She pointed to her love of wrestling, wanting to help other talent, and still having personal goals that she wants to achieve.
“A little bit of luck and little bit of craziness, because I’m crazy in love with this,” Bayley responded when asked what the key to her longevity is. “Cody and I call it — I always get it wrong — but I think we call it a ‘sickening.’ We have a sickening for this. Wrestling as a whole is ever-changing, and you never stop growing. Because the eras have changed so quickly throughout my time here and because the talent keeps getting better and better, I feel like I’m constantly evolving and constantly having to keep up. In a way of, you know, I’m just always growing and always learning.
“Luckily, there’s always something more that you want to accomplish. We have two brand new titles still: the Women’s Intercontinental title, the Women’s United States Championship. So those are two more things I would love to accomplish. And now I’m in this new tag team with Lyra Valkyria and I feel very rejuvenated being in a team with her, because obviously you guys know how talented she is. She just has a special soul and heart for this that I feel like I need in my career, at this point in my career. So constantly evolving, and I’m just lucky that they still want me around and I’m in a position where I can help people so I feel a little needed — on top of me wanting to still accomplish my own personal goals.”
Bayley & Valkyria are on the WWE Raw roster and have been featured in the women’s tag team division. Both have already been confirmed as entrants for the 2026 women’s Royal Rumble match.
In the future, Bayley hopes to open her own wrestling school. She expressed interest in potentially working behind the scenes in WWE whenever her in-ring career comes to an end.
In her personal life, WWE star Bayley is staying open to whatever comes her way.
Bayley joined Stephanie McMahon for a new episode of McMahon’s “What’s Your Story?” podcast that premiered this week. During their conversation, Bayley addressed whether she would like to have children at some point.
“I do, yeah,” she told McMahon. “I mean, now I’m at an age where like, now I’m kind of open. You know, if it happens, it happens. I’m not dating anybody. But if I were to meet someone, say I met someone today and they wanted to have kids, it’s not like I could just be like, ‘Let’s do it.’ You know, I want to be with somebody that if I was going to commit to them, I need to make sure they’re fit for that.
“I’ve aways thought that I would have kids growing up, but I don’t know if that was because it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s the thing to do’ or that’s just what life is. And then as I started getting older and realizing what I want out of a relationship and stuff, then I’m like, ‘Okay, well, if it happens, it happens.’ But I think I’ll be okay if not.”
Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss are among the current WWE wrestlers who have returned to their full-time careers after having children.
The 36-year-old Bayley is a member of the WWE Raw roster and part of a tag team with Lyra Valkyria at the moment. Opening her own wrestling school is a future goal for Bayley, who has also mentioned working behind the scenes in WWE as something that could interest her down the line.
Bayley noted on “What’s Your Story?” that, as 2025 came to an end, she could feel something big about to happen in her life. She does not know exactly what that is.
“I feel like everything in me is opening up,” she said “Like, I can feel something shifting and being open where I’m like, ‘Is something big about to happen?’ I don’t know what it is or if it’s somebody or what it is. But I’m like, I’m ready. I’m ready. I think I’m ready. I’m kind of scared, but I think I’m ready. But I can feel something.”
Les Thatcher and Victor Sosa return on a new Wrestling Weekly to talk John Cena’s last match.
Gunther said something on WWE Raw that gave Vic an idea about one way to go with the match. We look at the rest of the SNME card with WWE vs. NXT and some upsets that took place on AEW Dynamite.
WWE star Asuka comes to Bayley’s aid following her recent comments.
Recently, Bayley had opened up on the Six Feet Under podcast about her omission from WrestleMania 41 before calling it a “rough situation”. Shortly after, one of her storyline rivals and real-life friends, Asuka addressed the incident and spoke on her behalf. The Women’s tag-team champion opened up and asked Bayley to stop accepting the disrespect.
“An interview with Bayley came up on my X feed. I just found out about her sadness, her struggle, and her pain. And it hit me. I remembered,” she noted. “The format of today’s women’s division – the value everyone treats as standard – that was built by the Four Horsewomen and by me.”
“We’ve got pride. Of course we do. And right now, the ones who can understand Bayley’s pain the most are probably Charlotte, Becky and me. Our era didn’t just raise the level. We flipped the entire idea of what a women’s division could be. We started a revolution.”
Further speaking on her YouTube channel KanaChan TV, Asuka said,
“Bayley, when you and I first met, you were the NXT Champion, and I was the challenger. And I took the title from you and I carried NXT on my back. Then you went to the main roster, and you became one of the pillars there too. After that, I arrived. We fought at the top. We survived at the top. We became the standard of the company. We are not just wrestlers. We are an era. We changed the division.”
“You’re accepting treatment that doesn’t match what you are. Don’t swallow it. This isn’t only your problem. It’s an insult to our pride – the pride of everyone who fought beside you and against you. It’s an insult to the status we built with our own hands.”
2025 has been a rough year for Bayley, with the former champion missing out on being a part of both WrestleMania 41 and SummerSlam.
Asuka wants Bayley to demand the respect she deserves
Also in the video, Asuka discussed how Bayley now needs to demand the respect and treatment she deserves from promotion. Asking her to not ‘play nice’, Asuka claimed,
“As someone who has shared that time with you, I can’t accept it. Bayley. Stop playing nice. Look at Kairi. Playing nice is boring. Playing safe is boring. Go off! Shout it. ‘Do you know who I am? I’m Bayley!’ Make them remember what you’ve done – what we’ve done. We changed this division. We made it.”
The Japanese wrestling veteran now wants Bayley to remind everyone of what she is capable of and the hardships they undertook to elevate the division.
“So remind them. Loudly. All of them. Get louder. Get sharper. Let that fire show in the ring. And make them feel it. The weight we built with our lives. The pain we paid to make this division what it is. Right now. Make them remember.”
Bayley is now involved in a tag-team championship feud alongside Lyra Valkyria against The Kabuki Warriors.
