Lacey Evans has been a member of either RAW or SmackDown since 2019 and WWE proper since all the way back in 2016, when she signed with the promotion under her given name, Macey Estrella, before being assigned the name Lacey Evans when she made her television debut for NXT.

Though she won't go down as an NXT legend in the same way that, say, Asuka will, she was a fairly popular performer in the developmental promotion and ultimately earned a spot on the main roster by early 2019, joining EC3, Heavy Machinery (RIP), Lars Sullivan, and Nikki Cross in a six-person call-up, and was immediately worked into the regular rotation of talent both on RAW and the house show circuit. She feuded with Becky Lynch, wrestled in Saudi Arabia, and even worked a storyline with Ric Flair and his daughter Charlotte that had the potential to get really creepy but thankfully remained fairly tasteful… or, at least as tasteful as anything Ric Flair gets his nose into in this or any era.

Were any of these feuds as prolific as Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels, Becky Lynch-Charlotte Flair, or even New Day-Usos? No, but they were fine, nothing transcendent, nothing Lilly the Doll-level, just good old-fashioned sports entertainment. But then, something funny happened: Evans started being, like, really mean.

Returning to SmackDown following an extended absence due to her real-life pregnancy – which, again, wasn't caused by Ric Flair – Evans worked face before quickly turning heel and running through a very strange gimmick through the first few months of summer where she would walk out for a match, insult the crowd and then just sort of… not work the match. While some appreciated the humor of running poor Aliyah out there to just not work the show, the crowds pretty consistently voiced their opinions on her position with a steady stream of boos – boos that, for whatever reason, Evans was never able to use as heel fuel for her dastardly antics.

Dubbed a Mr. McMahon angle by folks in the know, Evans was quietly transitioned off of television when Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over creative control, and she was only used sparingly on television from that point on… well, at least until the first SmackDown of the month of December, where, after only appearing once on television in either October or November, a vignette showing Evans not in the ring but back in basic training played across television screens worldwide.

Is Evans about to go face once more and represent her country with pride, all the while pushing her to the top of the SmackDown women's rankings? Only time will tell, but it's safe to say she probably won't be talking as much you-know-what to the crowd this time around.

Lacey Evans credits motherhood with her drive to be the best in WWE.

Speaking with Brandi Rhodes on her 2 Lies and 1 Truth show, Evans was asked about returning to WWE after her second pregnancy. Has it been hard to get back into the swing of things with a baby at home?

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“It's been different, emotionally,” she said, h/t Fightful. “You know, when I started with WWE, I had a child, she was very young, but she was not six weeks old. So not many people know this. But I actually went back, I was at the PC, training, six weeks to the day postpartum. It was difficult, more so emotionally, it was — even still now, you know when you're breastfeeding, and you're raising this just this tiny baby that needs you every second. That was the hardest part, I think, it is the hardest part is her being so young and needing me on such an intimate level. So I just have to make it work.”

“Don't make excuses and work your a– off. You keep a regimen, you have to wake up, no matter how tired you are. I had a low thyroid problem and I had gestational diabetes for both of my pregnancies. So it was nothing new for these obstacles and I took it from the beginning, I assumed the second I got pregnant, this is what I'm going to be dealing with, and this is what I need to face. I just made sure to, every day, do something. I stick with the squats. I still worked out. Upper body every single day, low weights, high reps, whatever I could do. Just to make sure I didn't lose my spot completely within WWE. It's competition. So it's up to you to stay in there.”

According to Fightful, back in March of 2021, Evans was actually scheduled to win the RAW Women's Championship at WWE Elimination Chamber before the idea was scrapped due to her IRL pregnancy. Had Evans won the title in 2021, who knows where she would be in the greater WWE storyline, but unfortunately, fans will forever have to wonder what if.