Lyra Valkyria made history in the WWE soon after entering the Monday Night Raw roster last year by becoming the inaugural women’s Intercontinental Champion. Upon dropping the belt to Becky Lynch, she received the opportunity to get the title back at Summerslam in a rematch, due to which, WWE had to drop a bigger bout from the card.
Just 24 hours removed from their Triple Threat match at Evolution, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria were booked to compete in a match on the July 15 episode of Monday Night Raw to determine who would gain another shot at Becky Lynch’s Women’s Intercontinental Championship for a title shot at WWE SummerSlam 2025.
This was a Two-Out-Of-Three Falls match, with both women bringing high intensity into the contest. In the end, Lyra Valkyria came out to be the winner by putting away Bayley with her Nightwing finisher. While the latter earned a match, a mega bout between Bayley and Becky Lynch was thus scrapped, and WWE still went ahead with the plans as they wanted to push a youngster.
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WWE wanted to elevate Lyra Valkyria’s status using Bayley
During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer addressed Lyra Valkyria winning the two-out-of-three falls match to still remain at the Women’s Intercontinental Title picture en route to Summerslam 2025. While this win moved the story forward, Meltzer noted the new role of Bayley on the roster. Despite having the star power, she’s being utilized as someone to put over new names.
“100% the bigger match is Bayley. But it feels to me that Bayley is kind of the female Sami Zayn — that they see her as someone who is really good, but her role is to lose to the people that they’re really serious about. And for whatever reason, Lyra Valkyria is that person right now,” stated the source.
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Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales then also discussed Lyra Valkyria’s physical transformation in the WWE, which could also be playing a big factor in WWE’s decision to keep her in the spotlight, prominently. Meltzer also noted that WWE might want to utilize the chemistry that she had shown with Lynch in previous showdowns from earlier this year.
It was at Backlash that Lyra Valkyria defeated Becky Lynch to retain the women’s IC title, but a month later in a Last Chance Match, Lynch reversed the outcome to capture the title. Then she again defeated the UK-star and Bayley in a triple threat to retain at Evolution.