WWE Announces Bayley's First Match On SmackDown In Over A Year

Over the past month and a half, the recently returned Bayley has been running her rounds on "WWE Raw" alongside Dakota Kai and IYO SKY, collectively known as Damage CTRL. Since the trio's first appearance together at SummerSlam in July, Bayley has pinned the "Raw" Women's Champion Bianca Belair, and Kai and SKY have won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. Although it appears the former champions Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah are not done with Damage CTRL.

WWE announced Friday evening that Rodriguez is going to go one-on-one against Bayley on "SmackDown." What's interesting about this match, however, is that it's the first time Bayley's scheduled to have a match on the blue brand in over a year. The last time WWE's resident role model made an appearance on "SmackDown" was all the back in June 2021 when she along with Seth Rollins teamed up to take on, and ultimately defeat, the team of Bianca Belair and Cesaro. This was in the midst of Bayley and Belair's rivalry over the "SmackDown" Women's Championship. The rivalry was set to culminate at the Money in the Bank premium live event last year. However, the match had to be canceled after Bayley tore her ACL.

Furthermore, this is the first time Bayley will have a one-on-one match on "SmackDown" in a year and a half. The last time she had a one-on-one match on "SmackDown" was on the February 12, 2021 edition of the show, when she defeated the current "SmackDown" Women's Champion, Liv Morgan in under four minutes.