Taya Valkyrie competes in deathmatch, then returns to Impact to call shot at AAA women’s title

Taya Valkyrie had a busy Friday night. La Wera Loca went to war in a deathmatch, then she cleaned up and headed to Impact Wrestling for a surprise return to call her shot at Deonna Purrazzo and the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship. Taya did this within an hour of each other on the same evening.

Taya competed against Parrow at the No Peace Underground event on April 1. She took her lumps in defeat.

Taya washed off the blood and grime to change into a glamour outfit for a surprise appearance at the Impact Wrestling: Multiverse of Matches event. The last two photos in this batch from Taya perfectly illustrate that.

Taya’s previous run in Impact included holding the Knockouts Championship for 377 days. Her last appearance with the promotion involved being arrested for attempted murder.

Taya Valkyrie’s Twitter

Deonna Purrazzo has been holding a series of open challenges known as the Champ Champ Challenge. Opponents pick either the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship or the ROH Women’s World Championship as the prize. Faby Apache answered the call as a cool surprise. Purrazzo won the AAA belt off Apache at Triplemania XXIX, so this rematch was a long time coming. Purrazzo was victorious via armbar to retain the lucha libre gold on the Impact show.

Living up to the Multiverse moniker, Purrazzo addressed ROH crowning Mercedes Martinez as interim champion at Supercard of Honor. Purrazzo wasn’t worried about that paper champion. The Virtuosa viewed it as a ridiculous charade, since she is a legitimate defending champion. The business with Martinez will have to wait, because that’s when Taya interrupted to make her grand return to Impact.

Taya told Purrazzo not to be worried about the ROH belt. Instead, she should be worried about the AAA title. Taya informed Purrazzo that they have a date to rumble at the Rebellion PPV on April 23.

Taya winning the AAA strap, which she has held on three occasions for a total of 1,544 days, is not a foregone conclusion. Taya earned the #1 contender honor, but it is unclear if that is being cashed in or if Taya is just answering the open challenge. AAA doesn’t seem concerned with saving title changes for their own shows, so this bout could go either way.

The official card for Rebellion now includes:

• Impact World Championship: Moose (c) vs. Josh Alexander
• Knockouts Championship: Tasha Steelz (c) vs. Rosemary
• Impact World Tag Team Championship: Violent by Design (c) defending in an 8-team elimination challenge
• X-Division Championship: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Ace Austin vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
• Champ Champ Challenge: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Taya Valkyrie for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship
• Eddie Edwards vs. Jonathan Gresham
• JONAH vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Are you excited to see Taya Valkyrie return to Impact? Who are you picking to win the Champ Champ Challenge at Rebellion?