Lacey Evans is supposedly back as a WWE SmackDown Superstar.
Evans is now recognized on the WWE website as part of the official SmackDown roster. She was formerly on the RAW roster, however, her status was changed sometime between Tuesday morning and Thursday evening.
WWE had stated that Evans will make her in-ring return on Monday’s RAW, but she did not appear. WWE did show Evans signalling the start of NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 race on Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can watch the highlights below:
For what it’s worth, PWInsider claimed on Tuesday that Evans was not at RAW because WWE sent her to the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday instead. This does not appear to be correct, since Evans would have had time to fly from Charlotte to Des Moines, Iowa, for RAW. Evans has returned to the blue brand, according to PWInsider.
Regarding her delayed comeback to the ring, Evans tweeted photographs of herself flexing at the race on Sunday, including one of her lying down on a couch with ice packs on her arms. She joked about how her NASCAR Grand Marshal duties had her laid up due to too much flexing in the post. Evans did not show up on Monday night; one fan commented on how they were waiting to see her promised in-ring return.
“Still recovering [face with head bandage emoji] [flexed biceps emoji] [weary face emoji],” she said, an apparent reference to the joke about flexing too much during the race, but others have interpreted this as Evans implying she’s still suffering from some type of serious injury. Evans made one more post, which you can see below with the others, in which she joked about her biceps aching.
What happens when you stay flexin?? GRAND MARSHAL duties got me laid up. @nascaronfox @wwe @cocacola @nascar it's all your fault!!!!! ?? pic.twitter.com/ZslTFaowcg
— Lacey Evans ~ WWE Superstar. (@LaceyEvansWWE) May 30, 2022
Still recovering. ??? https://t.co/nx3qRisEKR
— Lacey Evans ~ WWE Superstar. (@LaceyEvansWWE) May 31, 2022
? the pain. https://t.co/twBWxFGQyz pic.twitter.com/D1cevWS5Um
— Lacey Evans ~ WWE Superstar. (@LaceyEvansWWE) May 31, 2022
We reported in early May that Evans was added to the RAW roster after the company aired a series of five vignettes leading up to her return from maternity leave. Those five vignettes, which featured an emotional Evans reliving her difficult childhood and journey to where she is now, concluded with Evans appearing on SmackDown on May 6 with a new theme song and to a large babyface pop. However, Evans was added to the RAW roster when a condensed version of the five vignettes aired on May 9th.
When Evans was added to the RAW roster, it was reported that she would be a heel on the red brand. This attracted viewers’ interest, as her recent vignettes garnered significant babyface reactions.
There’s no word on what’s next for Evans or why WWE moved her to the blue brand, but it’ll be interesting to observe whether she makes her in-ring comeback during this week’s Hell In a Cell go-home edition of SmackDown. She hasn’t wrestled since the February 15, 2021, episode of RAW, when Asuka and Charlotte Flair defeated her and Peyton Royce.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
