Bird of Prey: Villainous Valkyria Strikes

I meant to write this hours after it happened, because it was quite the occurrence. However, the last week was spent focusing on sports and my fiction pieces, and I decided that it may be best to wait a week and see what happens. I did that when Natalya transformed herself into the villainous Nattie Neidhart, and it worked out.

Lo and behold, it works out again. So let's get started, shall we?

The date: June 22, 2026. The place: London, England. That night's Raw kicked off with a contest for the Women's Tag Team Championship: Lyra Valkyria and Bayley challenging titleholders Brie Bella and Paige. The champions were coming off surviving a big defense against Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley, but they were facing a tough challenge in the form of Lyra Valkyria and Bayley. We know Bayley's résumé: first ever Women's Grand Slam Champion. As for Lyra, she became WWE's first-ever Women's Intercontinental Champion, and she's also a former Women's Tag Team Champion. They had been teaming together for the better part of a year, and this was their golden chance to win the titles together overseas. Unsurprisingly, this was a very back and forth battle, but in the end, the challengers were defeated, and it was Lyra who was pinned.

Bayley rushed to console Lyra, and we saw them hug it out, but as we all know, hugs like that often lead to something sinister. In this case, it was Lyra who delivered a complete beatdown and a deranged attack towards her partner of over a year. Everything they went through since last April, all tossed aside by a diminutive bird of prey. Of course, Lyra refused to discuss it with Jackie Redmond, which is fine, because we would get an aftermath.

Oh, that beautiful aftermath. Let's divide this up:

It's a Team Effort... Except When I Win

We see a demented-looking Lyra Valkyria, with that "false protagonist revealed as a psycho killer in a horror movie" look, ranting about the previous week. She doesn't understand why people are on her case regarding her attack on Bayley. "It takes two to lose a Tag Team Title match," Lyra says, before claiming that both of them let their frustrations get the better of them. However, Lyra added that it was unfair that people are forgetting that she had been the bigger person for over a year, and are focusing on what Lyra called, in so many words, an "isolated incident." She adds that while she isn't proud of what happened, she's not losing sleep over it, either.

Thoughts: That "it takes two" line is familiar. I've heard that in sports, especially from Bills fans. When they win, it's because of Josh Allen. When they lose, it's everyone else's fault. Lyra, you were the one who got pinned. But still, that's what Lyra is claiming. That and her whole thing about how she's been the bigger person for so long make this heel role so delicious. She's only been evil for a week, and she's acting like she's been doing for years. Just amazing!

After Everything I've Done...

I'm dead serious; am I the only one who thinks Lyra kinda looks like Esther from the Orphan movies? Lyra claimed that she was biting her tongue and "carrying the load" all this time, adding that she was "sacrificing her success" so she could bring Bayley to the top with her. "Everyone knows what I can do by myself," Lyra boasts, "I was the first-ever Women's Intercontinental Champion." She adds that she put her trust in someone who was "supposed to be one of the best," and says there's a huge gap between who she is and who she's supposed to be. And despite claiming that she never wanted to attack Bayley, Lyra says she felt so good closing that gap just a little bit.

Thoughts: Wrestling equivalent of Joel Embiid's "I've done more than enough for (Philadelphia)" line. And much like sports, wrestling is a "What have you done for me lately?" business. Yes, Lyra was the first-ever Women's IC Champion, but what has she done lately? She failed to get that same title from Sol Ruca, and she was pinned in a Queen of the Ring Quarterfinal contest.

As for that last part, though:

The True Demon

The Stanley Cup Playoffs may be over, but much like a few of their games, my brain tends to go into double or triple overtime on certain things, and this is one of them. Remember when Bayley was being portrayed as having a split personality for months? We would see Bayley switch between her classic sweet "hugger" persona and her evil "Role Model" gimmick. Now, I have to go there for what I'm about to say. Putting it bluntly, Bayley was portrayed as having DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). The moral thing to do is help those whose mental health is suffering. Yet what did Lyra do? She used Bayley's issues for her own benefit. We've seen how Lyra would slap Bayley to get that past heel side out of her when she needed it, many times. And now that a year has passed, and Lyra didn't get what she wanted, what does she do? She decides that Bayley's outlived her usefulness, and she attacks her.

That, and that line where Lyra said that there was a "gap between who she was and who she's supposed to be," pretty much cements my theory: the true psycho in that entire angle with Bayley was Lyra all along. She preyed on Bayley's vulnerability, used it to her advantage, and violently tossed her aside when it didn't pan out. I can go farther than that. Let's go back to NXT and her "kinship," if you will, with Tatum Paxley. Lyra really played innocent there, but she had to secretly relish in the fact that she had this crazed, wide-eyed girl willing to do everything for her.

In Closing

Per usual, I asked myself the following question, "What can we expect from the evil Lyra Valkyria?" I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting this. I was only expecting a darker look of some kind but we're getting much more. Lyra is being portrayed as a psychotic madwoman, something we rarely see in women's wrestling. She's Lifetime movie crazy, and speaking of, a huge part of me hopes that evil Lyra sinks her demented claws into Tatum Paxley and turns her into an equally deranged yet devoted follower who will do anything for Lyra. This is going to be beautiful, and to think, I was upset that Lyra didn't win Queen of the Ring like I hoped/picked. Instead, I got something so much better from Lyra: a very amazing transformation into an unhinged and demented villainess.

Lyra Valkyria didn't turn heel on June 22, 2026. She's been a heel all this time. It's just all out in the open now, and this bird of prey will be a lethal threat in the Women's Division.