Lyra Valkyria officially turned heel for the first time in her WWE career on the June 22, 2026, Raw episode in London when she betrayed Bayley after they lost a tag title match against Paige and Brie Bella. This was the last straw for Lyra Valkyria, as she has missed many PLE events and lost a plethora of tag title matches with Bayley while dealing with her split personalities that bounced back and forth between her babyface “Hugger” persona and her vindictive heel “Role Model” persona.
After tolerating Bayley’s psychological breakdowns and constant switching between her conflicting personas due to her undeniable loyalty to their friendship, Lyra Valkyria thought that sacrifice would pay off in tag team gold. However, after failing to win tag gold multiple times, Lyra Valkyria reached her breaking point and she is no longer the bird who chirps in the morning. She is now a vulture who silently scavenges at night. Now, Lyra has become even crazier than Bayley on Raw today.
How Will Lyra Valkyria Be Affected By Bayley’s Contract Situation?
Granted, the heel turn was a great idea and has the potential for an engaging storyline. However, it seems that Lyra’s heel run has lost some steam due to Bayley’s contract situation. Lyra Valkyria defeated Bayley on Saturday Night’s Main Event in July, essentially writing her off television. During that time, there was plenty of speculation regarding whether Bayley would go to AEW or stay in the WWE. The latter seemed less likely since her booking in the past year has been abysmal.
For someone of her stature, credibility, and even loyalty to the company for all these years, most fans would agree that she deserves better. However, she did return on Raw on the September 7, 2026 episode to continue her feud with Lyra, leading fans to believe that she is bypassing a dream alliance with Mercedes Mone in AEW. Bayley has not signed an official deal with WWE pen to paper, but Dave Meltzer noted that WWE expects her to officially sign a deal with them sooner rather than later.
Bayley got her revenge by screwing Lyra Valkyria out of qualifying for the MITB Ladder Match, but she then proceeded to lose to Lyra in their rematch on the September 21, 2026 episode of WWE Raw. That was a head scratching decision because booking 101 usually indicates that trilogies begin with 50:50 booking between the two rivals before their third blowoff match that is supposed to be the tiebreaker. Lyra Valkyria is currently up 2-0, and Bayley has zero momentum in this feud.
How Can WWE Make Lyra Valkyria’s Heel Run More Compelling?
If WWE keeps booking the feud in this manner, fans will lose interest in the story. Bayley is not the only one losing momentum; Lyra has not only failed to qualify for the Money In The Bank Ladder Match but also failed to capture the InterContinental Title. For weeks, she has been complaining about how mid card babyfaces, like Sol Ruca and Iyo Sky, are jumping the line and getting title shots before her. However, every time she gets an opportunity to shut them down, WWE books Lyra to lose.
If WWE really wanted to solidify Lyra’s heel turn and assure fans believe in the evolution of her character, she would have either recaptured the IC Title or qualified for the Money In The Bank Ladder Match for an opportunity to advance to the main event scene. After graduating from the mid card at SummerSlam 2025 in her IC Title Match against Becky Lynch, inserting Lyra in the world title picture would have kept it fresh instead of constantly relying on the Liv Morgan-Stephanie Vaquer feud.
Consequently, Lyra and Bayley are not blameworthy for the tanking of this story. They superbly represented their characters from the jump and have been entertaining the fans each week with their psychotic antics and immense attention to detail. The biggest problem is egregious creative, which is subtly stifling a storyline that should be contested for either the InterContinental Title or more favorably the World Women’s Title. WWE needs to allow Lyra to fully spread her wings to the dark side.
That’s all for WWE Coverage on Lyra Valkyria! If you’re not down with just that and would like even more WWE Raw Coverage from Mark Justice, check out more of his articles right here on Let Them Wrestle (LTW), on Last Word on Sports (LWOS), and subscribe to his popular YouTube channel.
Mark Justice is a Cornell University Graduate with a bachelor’s degree (B.S), double majoring in biological and environmental sciences, and a law degree (J.D.), specializing in environmental law and international law. His passion for pro wrestling stems from his very first time watching the WWE in 2009. As a decade-old pro wrestling fan, he continues to fulfill this passion by writing for Let Them Wrestle, where he will cover both WWE and AEW content. You can email Mark Justice at markjustice728@gmail.com, especially if you are a pro wrestling ‘mark’ like him. You can also subscribe to his brand new Youtube Channel at the link below: https://www.youtube.com/@markjustice1327