On January 28, 2018, at Royal Rumble, Lita made a surprise entrance at number 5 during the first women's Royal Rumble match, in which she eliminated Mandy Rose and Tamina before being eliminated by Becky Lynch. On September 3, WWE announced that Lita would make her in-ring return against Mickie James at WWE Evolution, the first ever all women's pay–per–view, however through October, James and her then ally Alexa Bliss started a feud with her and Trish Stratus (whom was scheduled to wrestle Bliss at the same event). This eventually led to the announcement of a tag team match between the two duos at Evolution. Just three days before the event, on October 25, it was announced that Bliss was pulled off the match due to a concussion she suffered beforehand and she was replaced by Alicia Fox. At the event on October 28, Lita and Trish defeated James and Fox after Stratus pinned James. The next night on Raw, in a 10-women tag team match, Lita, Trish, Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley defeated James, Fox and the Riott Squad.