Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark were abruptly removed from the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships tournament, with Lyons being cited as “medically unavailable” due to her unvaccinated status.
The tournament for the vacant WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships continued on the latest SmackDown, where NXT 2.0’s Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark were slated to contend Natalya and Sonya Deville. Instead, though, Toxic Attraction’s Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne replaced Lyons and Stark, advancing to the semifinals.
In the aftermath of this announcement, Nikkita Lyons was noted as being “medically unavailable”, a story that Dave Meltzer confirmed in a daily news update via F4WOnline due to her unvaccinated status. Zoey Stark was also listed as having suffered a concussion:
“Stark suffered a concussion in her match Tuesday with Mandy Rose and wasn’t cleared. Lyons wouldn’t have been allowed to go as they didn’t realize she wasn’t vaccinated and thus couldn’t get into Canada.”
The inclusion of Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark in the tournament bracket came as a surprise. If WWE wanted to have NXT representation in the tournament, the likes of Toxic Attraction or current NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter made the most sense.
WWE officials were said to be high on Nikkita Lyons following her impressive NXT in-ring debut this past February, while Zoey Stark has been a rising star in the brand since the start of 2021. She’s a former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion herself, holding the titles with Io Shirai last year.
The semifinals of the ongoing tournament will take place on next week’s Raw and SmackDown. Alexa Bliss and Asuka will meet Dakota Kai and IYO SKY on the red brand’s side, while Toxic Attraction will tangle with former NXT colleagues Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah.