Former Bayley women’s champion has suffered an injury in training and is expected to miss nine months of action

The first WWE women’s Grand Slam champion will be out of the game until 2022. The WWE announced on Friday that Bayley had an injury in a training session and is expected to be out for approximately nine months.

Bayley was scheduled to face current SmackDown women’s champion Bianca Belairri at the July 18 Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. WWE has announced that a challenge contest will be announced on Friday’s SmackDown edition.

Bayley had a tremendous year in 2020, holding the SmackDown title all year long before the end of October at 380 days. She also became half of the women’s team champions with Sasha Banks, becoming one of the real workhorses for the promotion after a successful heel turn. The latest clash with the banks was named CBS Sports by the 2020 Annual Feud.

Bayley has also raced with the NXT and Raw women’s championships, and has become one of the most successful female locker room members in WWE history.

The nine-month recovery period would align Bayley to return to WrestleMania around 38, which takes place on April 3, 2021 from the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.