Since the brand extension in 2016, no superstar may have defied expectations more than Alexa Bliss.

In NXT, Bliss started off as a cookie-cutter babyface with a high-flying moveset and didn't really find her groove until she began accompanying Blake and Murphy - she is, of course, engaged to Buddy Murphy in real life - and acting as a heel.

Still, Bliss did not win any gold in NXT, but when she arrived on SmackDown, she quickly took off as a main event heel.

Bliss is now a five-time world champion in WWE, the first-ever woman to have won both SmackDown and Raw Women's titles and a Money in the Bank winner.

But for the past few months, the Goddess has been out of action on Raw after suffering a bad concussion from Ronda Rousey at a live event.

According to the Wrestling Observer, Bliss has only been cleared to do light bumps on a heavily padded ring at the Performance Center in Orlando and she is not quite ready for an in-ring return.

Until then, the 27-year-old has become the general manager of the Women's division on Raw as a way to keep her on TV.

According to Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline.com, the Royal Rumble is Bliss' targeted return date.

“What I heard about Alexa Bliss is she will probably remain out until Royal Rumble. Watch her wrestle next week on RAW, but anyway, that’s what I was told.”

“The Performance Center has a bunch of rings, but one of the rings they’ve got, the entire ring is a crash pad. So when you hear that Alexa Bliss is taking light bumps and that sort of thing, she’s not even bumping in a real ring right now. At least as of last week, she was taking bumps on the crash pad and they were making sure she could bump on a crash pad without I guess ending up with vertigo.”

Becky Lynch is the hot favourite to win the Royal Rumble and go on to face Raw Women's champion Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35, possibly in the main event.

Still, if Bliss was to make her dramatic return at the event, that could sure be a spanner in the works.

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