Stephanie Vaquer Returns to the Ring After Illness: Latest on Her Status
Latest update (November 6): Vaquer is back in the ring
Stephanie Vaquer wrestled again on Thursday, November 5, at a WWE live event at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine. It was her first match since she hurt her ankle at Money in the Bank on October 10.
She teamed with IYO SKY and Lola Vice and won a six-woman tag match against Fatal Influence: Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid. The same show also had CM Punk beating Kevin Owens in a Street Fight in the main event.
- Back in action: yes, at a non-televised live event, which is the usual first step after time off.
- Crown Jewel: she is not on the card for Saturday in Riyadh, and WWE has not said she will be there.
The house show match matters because it is the clearest sign yet that both the ankle and the illness are behind her. With Becky Lynch still chasing Liv Morgan's Women's World Championship, a Vaquer return to Raw would put three women into the same title picture.
October 28: why she missed Raw
We now know why Stephanie Vaquer did not wrestle on Raw on October 26. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, she got sick. It was not an injury, and it was not part of a storyline.
"It wasn't about an injury and it wasn't a worked storyline," Meltzer said.
What happened on Raw
Vaquer was booked to face Becky Lynch in Fresno, with the winner becoming the new No. 1 contender to Liv Morgan's Women's World Championship. Raw General Manager Adam Pearce opened the show by announcing that Vaquer had not been medically cleared, and the match was called off.
Instead, Lynch got Morgan in a title match in the main event. Morgan kept her title when Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez of The Judgment Day got involved and the match ended in a disqualification. Meltzer said the DQ finish was used because WWE did not want Lynch to lose.
How serious is it?
- Meltzer said he was told the illness is "nothing terribly serious."
- Vaquer was scheduled to wrestle that night but got sick and could not appear.
- There is no set return date yet. Meltzer described her timeline as indeterminate.
Why fans were confused
The days before Raw were messy. Vaquer had been working her way back, and a WWE video showed her throwing down her crutches and declaring herself cleared. Then, on the day of the show, WWE said "questions have arisen" about her medical availability. With that build, many fans assumed the not-cleared angle was either a storyline or a new injury. Meltzer's report says it was neither.
What's next for Vaquer
It is not clear whether Vaquer would have been the one to challenge Morgan if she had not been sick. For now, Morgan defends the Women's World Championship against Chelsea Green in a champion vs. champion match at Crown Jewel on November 7, so Vaquer's title chase will have to wait until after that. Read the background in our earlier Vaquer story.
