On the January 3, 2017, episode of SmackDown Live, Lynch defeated La Luchadora in a singles match.[4] Following the match, the character was unmasked and it was revealed that Bliss portrayed the character during the match before the evil Deonna Purrazzo appeared as a second Luchadora and attacked Lynch with help of Alexa.[5][6] On the January 17 episode of SmackDown Live, the evil La Luchadora returned during a steel cage match for the SmackDown Women's Championship between Bliss and Lynch, where she once again distracted and attacked Lynch, leading to Bliss retaining.[7] After the match it was revealed that the returning Mickie James was under La Luchadora persona and officially allied with Bliss, making it the last appearance for the La Luchadora gimmick.[8][9]