After 14 months of injury, James returned on the August 10, 2020 episode of "Raw" as a face, only to have her interview interrupted by Natalya and Lana. This set up a singles match against Natalya the following week, which saw James lose by countout thanks to interference from Lana. On the August 31 episode of "Raw", James confronted the Raw Women's Champion Asuka, stating her intentions of going after the title. During this exchange, Lana and Natalya interrupted staking their claims, leading to a singles match between James and Lana in which James defeated her via pinfall. On the September 14 episode of "Raw", James challenged Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship, but lost after a botched finish due to the referee believing that James could no longer compete.