WWE News: Bayley Talks Title Match Against AJ Lee

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WWE star Bayley got the opportunity to challenge AJ Lee for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship earlier this week when she won a gauntlet match on “Monday Night Raw.”

The match, which takes place on Monday, is almost 13 years in the making. The last time the two professional wrestlers competed against each other was on August 21, 2013 for the Divas Championship. Lee, a veteran at the time, got the better of Bayley, who was still new.

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Bayley celebrates her victory with Lyra Valkyria after the Woman’s Gauntlet Match during Monday Night RAW at Climate Pledge Arena on March 9, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Meg Oliphant/WWE via Getty Images)

Much has changed since then. Lee left the company in 2015, while Bayley went on to become a four-time Women’s Champion and two-time Women’s Tag Team Champion. Bayley helped shape the WWE women’s division into what it is currently. The Women’s Intercontinental Championship wasn’t even a twinkle in anyone’s eye five years ago let alone 13 years ago.

Lee returned to WWE in September, potentially putting the two wrestling greats on a collision course with each other at some point. With Lee winning the title against Becky Lynch, Bayley was able to power her way toward a shot at championship gold.

“Man, it’s so weird. So weird to think about, it’s like the universe works in mysterious ways,” Bayley told Pakinomist Digital in a recent interview. “I remember 13 years ago I got that text that I was going to fight AJ Lee for the divas title and I was just starting my character stuff on NXT. I remember being like, ‘What do you mean? What am I? Why? What? This can’t be possible.’ And that’s kind of what I want now, just because nobody thought AJ would come back, let alone have a Women’s Intercontinental Championship, let alone be champion or ever.”

“It just seems like one of those things where she just wanted to come back as a one-off, dream match thing,” she continued. “And even when she came back, and I’ve told her, I was just glad to have her around. We’ve stayed in touch for the last 10 years and been real friends outside of the business, and just to think that now I’m going to be in the ring with her, I wasn’t like, ‘I’m going to have a match with you,’ because I got my match. I just wanted my friend to do it right, now I have it, and now I’m doing it right. like, ‘Of course we have to have this fight together.’

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

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“I would love, love, love to win this championship because I have to finish my grand slam role. I have to get this. I’m going to the United States and I’m going to WrestleMania. So I have a lot of emotions in this and I kind of have to put the nostalgia of it aside.”

Lee’s return was a shock to the WWE Universe as she teamed up with her real-life husband, CM Punk, to take on Lynch and Seth Rollins. Yet, for many WWE fans, Lee’s return still seems unreal.

She returned on an episode of “Friday Night SmackDown”, which took place in Chicago at the time. Bayley told Pakinomist Digital that she was in town filming something and heard rumors that Lee might be returning.

Even as best friends, Bayley said Lee never tipped his hand.

“She didn’t say anything to me,” she said. “I had heard rumors. I’m a big believer and I have a lot of hope for a lot of things that I really feel, and I happened to be in Chicago filming something that day for SmackDown, and I thought, I’m just going to keep going. I don’t have to go back to my hotel. I’m just going to keep going, and yeah, I was so glad my heart followed.”