Carmella Picks Up Big Win In WWE Return Match
In her first taste of in-ring action since August 2022, Carmella defeated "Michin" Mia Yim, Candice LeRae and Piper Niven in a Fatal 4-Way Match on the 2/6 "WWE Raw" in Orlando Florida.
Towards the closing stages of the match, Niven seemed to gain the upper hand by nailing LeRae with a vicious cannon ball, only for Carmella to capitalize on the situation by super kicking the former Doudrop out of the ring and covering LeRae for the pinfall victory. Carmella would talk trash and moonwalk after match, with her husband, Corey Graves, celebrating at ringside.
With the win, Carmella qualified for the Women's Elimination Chamber Match at the upcoming premium live event in Montreal, Québec, Canada, joining Raquel Rodriguez, Asuka, Liv Morgan, Nikki Cross and Natalya inside the chain-linked circular steel structure. The winner of the six-woman bout will challenge Bianca Belair for the "Raw" Women's Championship at WrestleMania 39.
Later in the night, Carmella referred to herself as "Melladamus" for predicting her victory in an earlier interview with Byron Saxton.
"I am on Cloud 9!" Carmella said after the show went off the air. "I said exactly what I said I was gonna do — I went out there and looked like a star, acted like a star, and won like a star. 'Coz I'm a star, baby! Look at me!"
Carmella also confirmed that her new in-ring attire was a nod to WWE Hall of Famer Lita.
It appears WWE could have big plans in place for Carmella's comeback. Earlier on Monday, WWE's official Twitter account listed off all of Carmella's career accomplishments, which include a reign as "WWE SmackDown" Women's Champion, one reign as Women's Tag Team Champion, and the distinct honor of being the first-ever Miss Money in the Bank.
While fans on social media are seemingly in favor of the new-look Asuka challenging Belair at WrestleMania, it remains to be seen if WWE has other plans in place. Belair had two critically-acclaimed matches at the previous two editions of WrestleMania — against Sasha Banks in 2021 and Becky Lynch at 2022. As such, fans are bracing for another banger from the EST.