AJ Lee’s WWE return plans & Liv Morgan’s first title defense update - Report

AJ Lee has been absent from WWE since April.

After losing the Women’s Intercontinental title in a rematch against Becky Lynch at Night 1 of WrestleMania 42, AJ Lee has been absent from WWE programming. The loss seemingly concluded their feud with Becky picking up the final and only win against Lee.

While Lee, since her return in September 2025 before Wrestlepalooza, has taken an extended period of absence and has returned around major PLEs, this time her social media posts left many fans believing that she has left WWE, saying goodbye once again.

On that note, reports clarified that WWE creative essentially wrapped up plans for Lee following WrestleMania, and there is internal hope of her return for future programs and matches, with SummerSlam 2026 eyed as a potential event for her return.

Now, a new report from Wrestlevotes Live on Fightful Select has revealed that “AJ Lee isn’t expected to return to WWE imminently.” The outlet did not provide any update on the situation.

Liv Morgan’s lackluster title reign continues

Liv Morgan defeated Stephanie Vaquer at WrestleMania to capture the Women’s World title once again, and WWE had plans for a rematch. However, Vaquer’s injury shelved those plans, and WWE has not moved to a new storyline in the meantime, and continues to feature the title prominently.

This has led to internal frustration, and the only saving grace is that WWE has put Morgan in the Queen of the Ring tournament 2026, despite her being the Champion, to make sure she’s prominently featured in programming.

That said, Morgan’s title reign has been severely impacted by the lack of creative accord, and according to a new report from WrestleVotes, there are no plans for Morgan to defend the title, and it will likely not happen until SummerSlam.

Joey from WrestleVotes noted that her participation in the Queen of the Ring tournament, where she is set to compete in the finals at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, is one of the reasons fans shouldn’t expect an immediate title defence.

“Liv Morgan is in this tournament, and she’ll make the finals over there in Saudi Arabia, so she won’t be defending the title between now and then. Then afterwards, you’re looking at about a month, so they’ll wait for SummerSlam to have her defend it. And then it’s going to be upwards of 80 days, which is ridiculous. She’s not going to defend that title anytime soon.”

[H/T: Ringside news]

Morgan recently defeated Chelsea Green, Alexa Bliss, and Becky Lynch on the June 8 edition of Raw to advance into the semi-finals of the Queen of the Ring tournament.

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