New Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer missed Monday Night Raw earlier this month where she was scheduled for a contract signing with IYO SKY for their match at Wrestlepalooza. At the time, it was unclear why Vaquer was not medically cleared and to add further confusion, she returned the next week and was able to compete on multiple shows.
Speaking at the Wrestlepalooza post-show press conference, WWE CCO Triple H revealed that Vaquer missed the contract signing on September 8 because she was simply dealing with an illness:
"In the last few weeks, Stephanie has been very sick. I don’t know the details of what the flu-type thing going on but she was very sick. It was why she missed the TV, it’s why there were some odd build to it."
"She was able to feel well enough and get cleared medically to compete tonight. For her to be able to do that against IYO, who I consider one of the greatest women of all time in this industry. For her to have a win like that tonight to become the women’s world championship is incredible. She has been here for a very short time. As we move forward now, she becomes a dominant force. The landscape of WWE in the women’s division just changed with Stephanie Vaquer becoming women’s champion."
Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Vaquer confirmed that her absence was due to being sick and not an actual injury:
"To be honest, the last three weeks I was no good. I was sick. My body not feel like a hundred percent. I feel a little weak. I could not train really good the last month, but when I [was] back last Monday, I really feel the people and I really feel everything and really forget everything about that."
