Nia Jax interfered in the main event of WWE Raw tonight, allowing Rhea Ripley to retain the Women’s World Championship against Raquel Rodriguez. Jax showed up in the match’s closing moments, attacking Rodriguez on the outside, seemingly to help Ripley. However, once the two stood in the ring together, Jax attacked Ripley as well, laying out the champion to a chorus of boos as the show went off the air.
This was the first WWE appearance for Jax since this year’s WWE Royal Rumble in January, where she competed in the Women’s Royal Rumble match. Jax had teased in recent weeks that she was potentially gearing up for an in-ring return, and it’s now clear that she’ll serve as an upcoming challenger for Ripley.
Jax was released by WWE in November 2021, weeks after the conclusion of a storyline that saw her split from tag team partner Shayna Baszler. Prior to her release, Jax had reportedly asked the company for some time off. The former WWE Raw Women’s Champion later claimed that her release was due to her refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Over the course of her original six-year run with the company, Jax went from WWE NXT to Raw and, eventually, had a brief run on WWE SmackDown. In addition to holding the WWE Raw Women’s Championship, Jax also held the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship twice alongside Baszler. Some of her most memorable feuds include Alexa Bliss and Ronda Rousey, and Jax was responsible for the now-iconic bloody nose that helped push Becky Lynch into the stratosphere.
According to a report from Fightful Select, Jax has been signed to WWE for over a month now, and was the first person hired since Vince McMahon made his way back into power at the beginning of this year. There are people within the company who had even expected to see Jax pop up prior to tonight.