Former WWE Women’s Champion Bayley was attacked backstage ahead of WrestleMania 41 and pulled from her match alongside Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria for the Women’s Tag Team titles against champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Fans saw on the pre-show ahead of night one that Valkyria was given 24 hours to find a new partner by “WWE Raw” General Manager Adam Pearce. According to reports, Bayley is likely to be replaced by a returning Becky Lynch, and Bryan Alvarez confirmed PWInsider Elite‘s initial report that “The Man” is coming back around on “Wrestling Observer Radio.”

“This is the return of Becky Lynch,” Alvarez said. “She is going to be replacing Bayley [alongside] Lyra. I suppose if word gets out, they could change it, but that was the plan today and this has been in the works for awhile. It was not a last minute thing. Bayley is not injured… This is a story they have planned. Becky is coming back.”

Alvarez mentioned that it should have been clear that Lynch’s return was imminent after she recently claimed during an improv comedy show that she was not wrestling anymore. Lynch’s return to WWE has been rumored since she signed a new deal with the company, reportedly around the time “WWE Raw” debuted on Netflix. 

Prior to reports of Lynch’s return, Big E made a quip on commentary during the pre-show that Valkyria could be backed up by a “countryman,” as both women are from Ireland. Lynch was pictured on the red carpet with her husband, Seth Rollins, ahead of WWE’s Hall of Fame ceremony. She also posted a video to social media of herself in gorilla position when Rollins won night one’s main event against Roman Reigns and CM Punk.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.