Additional Details On Alexa Bliss' WWE Return

Of all the surprises WWE had up their sleeve for the 2025 Royal Rumble event, the one that caught everyone off guard was the return of Alexa Bliss. Having been away from wrestling for two years due to a battle with skin cancer, and giving birth to her first child, Bliss entered the women's Royal Rumble match to an overwhelmingly positive reception from the fans in attendance, and those watching at home. Bliss coming back was even a surprise for some people in WWE as it had been heavily reported that Bliss had not come to terms on a new deal with the company, and was more than happy to let her old deal expire.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer gave some insight into the situation, noting that the commentary team played up the surprise to get one over on those that had reported Bliss wouldn't be coming back. Whether WWE lied to everyone about her situation remains to be seen, but Meltzer is certain that the new deal came together right before the show, with Bliss' agent Dean Muhtadi (aka Mojo Rawley in WWE) getting her a brand new five-year deal just hours before the show started.

Bliss' original deal was set to expire, and even though WWE could have potentially added two years on for the time that she missed, the company wanted to get a new deal done as they did not want her being able to leave without a 90-day non-compete clause so soon after returning. Bliss didn't make too much of an impact during the Rumble match as she didn't secure any eliminations in her 11 minutes of ring time, but the fact that she is back in the company is something WWE is very happy about.

Another report that came out in the days leading up to the Royal Rumble was that despite being moved to "WWE SmackDown," The Wyatt Sicks had not been featured on TV since the move, with rumors swirling about Bliss being included in their creative plans halting their return to TV. However, that was proven to not be the case as one of the group members is currently dealing with an injury, but that hasn't stopped the speculation of Bliss and The Wyatt Sicks working together as Bliss was not featured on the February 3 episode of "WWE Raw." Whether she will be featured on the February 7 episode of "SmackDown" is still up for discussion.

What Bliss would be doing upon returning was reportedly the stumbling block in getting her to re-sign. Meltzer noted that her creative direction wasn't strong enough to warrant the five-year deal WWE wanted her to sign, to the point where everything they had planned for her was scrapped just a few weeks ago. This did originally contradict the sighting of a new Bliss t-shirt available to buy that indicated things were going well, but Meltzer claims this was put out before the impasse regarding creative.

WWE were reportedly prepared for any bumps in the road as Shotzi was originally set to be in the Rumble match if Bliss didn't re-sign, even going as far as to do a full rehearsal with Shotzi during the day, something that a few people in WWE were sad about as it was meant to be Shotzi's own return to the main roster after missing most of 2024 due to a knee injury.