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- Don't Expect To See Aliyah Back In WWE Any Time Soon
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In 2021, Aliyah made her official debut on WWE SmackDown as a part of the 2021 Draft. It was a major event in Aliyah’s career. She had spent the majority of it in NXT, where she worked on developing her craft and character. Since she made her debut on the main roster, Aliyah has had some significant matches and moments, including becoming WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions with Raquel Rodriguez. However, ever since she lost the title, Aliyah has been absent from weekly WWE television. While it initially had to do with injury, she had been cleared to compete for several months. However, there were no signs of when to expect her to return.
UPDATE: 2023/11/07 14:30 EST BY ANDREW KELLY
Don't Expect To See Aliyah Back In WWE Any Time Soon
Aliyah is someone who went under the radar for a lot of her WWE career, spending a super long time in NXT before finally getting her main roster call-up. For those in the WWE Universe who have kept note of Aliyah’s time since her call-up, becoming a WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion, they will have noticed that she has not been on WWE television for over a year, and when looking forwards, there is a chance that she may never be seen on WWE programming again. There has been movement on Aliyah’s career since the last look at her WWE absence, with some big changes being made to her career and life.
Aliyah Last Appeared In 2022
On the August 29, 2022, edition of Monday Night RAW, Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez had successfully won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. They defeated Damage CTRL, consisting of IYO SKY and Dakota Kai. However, their reign was relatively short. It lasted less than a month before they lost the titles to Damage CTRL on the September 12, 2022, episode of RAW. After this, it was announced that Aliyah had an elevated first rib and an AC sprain. However, Aliyah has since healed from this injury.
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As reported by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestleTalk), “Aliyah is cleared to return after being put on the sidelines with an injury which led to Shotzi taking her spot on the Smackdown women’s depth charts and going babyface.” This was reported months ago, but Aliyah is yet to be seen back on television. Meltzer pointed out that WWE had no storyline plans for her once she had been cleared.
Aliyah's WWE Career Has Been Up And Down
Aliyah’s WWE career has gone through many different phases during her time with the promotion. Initially, she had wrestled for a number of independent promotions, including SCW, AIW, PWA, and more. She had started off her WWE career in developmental and was a part of NXT. Initially signing in 2015, she made her in-ring debut in 2016. At first, she competed mostly on NXT Live shows and some NXT televised programs where she faced names like Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Asuka, Carmella, and more.
After facing numerous names in NXT, Aliyah formed an alliance with Vanessa Borne. However, this was also a temporary alliance. But, in 2020, Aliyah got put into a storyline with Robert Stone. She joined the Robert Stone Brand, alongside Chelsea Green. It was a long term storyline for Aliyah, which saw her fight to join it and also her eventual turn on Stone. This was seen in her final NXT match, where she teamed with Jessi Kamea in an unsuccessful bout against Katana Chance and Kayden Carter.
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After a number of dark matches on SmackDown, Aliyah wrestled her first televised match as a main roster member where she, Naomi (now known as Trinity in Impact Wrestling), and Sasha Banks (now known as Mercedes Moné in NJPW) went up against Natalya, Shayna Baszler, and Shotzi. She also went on to make history in WWE by achieving the fastest win in the company’s history. She defeated Natalya in 3.17 seconds on an episode of SmackDown. In addition, she also competed in the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble match. All the while, she has also faced some of WWE’s top names, including Charlotte Flair, Xia Li, Sonya Deville, Bayley, and more. She and Raquel Rodriguez also faced tag teams such as Toxic Attraction, Damage CTRL, and more.
As for her former tag team partner, Rodriguez went on to have a temporary alliance with Shotzi before teaming with Liv Morgan. Together they have achieved a lot of success, as Morgan and Rodriguez are two-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. Rodriguez has had three reigns as a WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion, once with Aliyah and twice with Morgan. It is unfortunate that Aliyah has not returned to WWE television even after being cleared to get back in the ring following her injury. Aliyah’s career has gone through numerous ups and downs. But, she has shown that she truly does have what it takes to be a star in WWE. She has faced some of WWE’s biggest names, whether that was in NXT or on the main roster.
Aliyah Has Left WWE
Aliyah was sitting on the sidelines awaiting a return to WWE, but before she was ever granted another opportunity at making it big in the company, things came to an abrupt end. Following the WWE and UFC merger in which TKO was created, WWE “celebrated” this with mass lay-offs across all aspects of employment, and this included several in-ring wrestlers. Aliyah was one of the names released from WWE, getting fired along with the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Emma, Shelton Benjamin, Matt Riddle, and several more, thus ending her time with WWE after eight years.
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On September 21, 2023, Aliyah took to social media to announce her WWE exit, doing so before WWE had made a statement. On X, she wrote “As of today, I am no longer a part of WWE.” She received a wave of support online, and in the time since her release, she has put more focus on her equestrian hobby. However, it doesn’t seem like Aliyah’s time in professional wrestling is done just yet, as all signs indicate that after her 90 no-compete clause, she will be back. On X, she responded to her gear creator, “Thank you for creating my most favorite gears. I ain’t done yet, can’t wait to see what we can come up with.”
Aliyah Plans To Return To Wrestling
Aliyah has also retweeted videos of her old work on the independent scene, which could suggest that she will pursue this line of work in the near future. It isn’t entirely clear where she will end up next, but for those unaware of her release, this explains where she has been and why she hasn’t been present on WWE programming for quite some time.
