No one guessed this WWE icon was behind the costume on 'The Masked Singer' — except for one judge
'The Masked Singer' Season 9 saw a cute and fiery 'Axolotl' take charge of the stage in an alien-like pink costume. Turns out she was representing a rare amphibian related to the tiger salamander. "She's very cute and rowdy just like me," Axolotl hinted at her identity in the introduction clip. During the 'Country Nights' round, the big reveal was made, and the pink salamander with fluffy poms poms happened to be none other than WWE superstar Alexa Bliss. The professional wrestler sadly faced elimination on her debut, but that did not dampen her spirits. She left the judges and the audience grooving to LeAnn Rimes' 'Can't Fight the Moonlight'.
As of Today, only judge Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg correctly guessed it was five-time WWE women's champion behind the pink mask. "Oh my gosh, who would've thought?" Nicole Scherzinger reacted. "Wow." "I know you girlfriend," McCarthy Wahlberg exclaimed. "I am so proud of you. Your stage presence. You definitely can tell you’re comfortable on stage." Bliss revealed that she had overcome her anxiety and stepped out of her comfort zone for the performance.
"This was something that was personal for me because I have crippling stage fright when it comes to singing," she said. "I actually cried backstage before coming out here because I was just so nervous. But I am just so proud of myself because I conquered my fear." "I deal with anxiety, and I wanted to show I can make myself proud," she continued. "If anyone else is ever having something where they're afraid to do something, do something every day that scares you, because I did this today and it was so fun." "Ken was crying right before the show, too, so it's normal," Robin Thicke teased his fellow judge.
"Real talk, I'm a big WWE fan and I'm a huge fan of yours. You're a true star, and we're just so honored to have you here," Ken Jeong reacted after ignoring Thicke's comment. Meanwhile, the pro wrestler has been missing from the ring for a long time now. As per Entertainment Tonight, Bliss revealed that she was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2023 and has been in remission after taking the appropriate medical treatment. "We do beat up our bodies, you know," she says in the video. In an emotional post on Instagram stories, the WWE champion expressed gratitude towards the American Skin Institute for taking "good care of her."
Bliss was last seen competing in WWE during the 2023 Royal Rumble for the Raw Women's Championship against Bianca Belair. Recently, famed wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer speculated about Bliss returning to compete professionally because of a failed contract deal. "I am told that the Alexa Bliss thing was a late negotiation," he explained to Wrestling Observer Radio, as per Wrestling Inc. "I don't believe it, because it's pro wrestling. My belief is that they were pulling a swerve...the gist on Alexa Bliss was her contract, because of the freezing and time off and everything, it was not up. But it was about to be up. And so they didn't want to debut her and then have the contract up, cause then she'd kind of have them under a barrel."