Lita made her first appearance on WWE SmackDown in nearly 20 years on Friday night as part of the build to her in-ring return at the Royal Rumble in two weeks. However, Lita’s return to the ring was close to happening in a different wrestling company entirely.
Lita had conversations with AEW about a return to the ring in 2021, according to Fightful. However, the two sides were obviously unable to come to a deal.
The report notes that AEW laid out a story where Lita would feud with AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker. That feud would culminate in a match between the two at AEW All Out 2021 this past September in Chicago. However, Baker ended up working a match against Kris Statlander at that show when negotiations with Lita broke down.
Despite no deal being reached, Fightful reports that the negotiations between Lita and AEW were amicable and there’s a possibility of the two doing business in the future.
Lita has been cleared to work for WWE for over four years now. She has not been on their “no contact” list according to Fightful.
Lita’s last match was in October 2018. That was a 10-woman tag team match on WWE Monday Night Raw that saw Lita, Trish Stratus, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Natalya defeat The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan), Alicia Foxx and Mickie James.
As mentioned, Lita was recently announced as a participant in this year’s 30-woman WWE Royal Rumble match which will take place two weeks from this Saturday in St. Louis, Missouri. There’s a feeling that this may not be a one-off, and WWE leaned into that during Friday night’s SmackDown broadcast as Lita had a confrontation with Charlotte Flair.
If Lita sticks around after the Royal Rumble, who would you like to see her work against? Let us know in the comments section below!
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