After weeks of speculation, Trish Stratus made her return to WWE on the February 27th edition of Raw.
The Hall of Famer took out Bayley, helping ensure that Becky Lynch and Lita were able to capture the Women’s Tag Team Championships from IYO SKY and Dakota Kai.
The following week, the new champions invited Stratus to the ring to celebrate with them, but they were soon interrupted by Damage CTRL. Their appearance led Stratus to challenge the trio to a match at WrestleMania 39 against her, Lita and Lynch which Bayley quickly accepted.
Trish Stratus’ return came later than expected
Stratus’ was slated to return earlier in February, with it being reported following the February 20th edition of Raw that she had been set to appear during the ‘Ding Dong Hello!’ segment that week but was pulled from the show.
Speaking to Adam Silverstein on Getting Over, Stratus seemed to have no issue with the delay, saying “everything happens for a reason”.
“No. Everything has been pretty smooth, to be honest. I know there were little online rumblings, but everything happens for a reason.
“There are definitely a lot of gut intuitions going into making these decisions, and I think we landed at the right place at the right time.
“I’m excited where it landed. It’s just enough time before Mania, it’s the right dynamic, the right timing, the girls have the tag team titles, unexpected. What a moment. Nobody expected that.”
The seven-time Women’s Champion explained that the change meant nobody was expecting her when she did return.
“For me, there was so much buzz about me, people forgot about me, then I surprised them again. Everything played out really well, I think, in a way where this world can be predicted, ‘ah, we know what’s happening tonight,’ I think we did it in a nice way that it’s exciting and people didn’t know what’s coming next.
“Still, there is so much more that can happen between now and Mania. It’s exciting. There is a good build up now, because when I came back for Charlotte, we didn’t have much time to build it. Here, we have a nice little bit of time to build into Mania.”
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.