match by Akebono, Makoto and Takuya Kito. In early 2013, Byron set her sights on the WNC Women's Championship, however, on March 31, she failed to earn her first shot at the title, when she was defeated by Makoto in a number one contender's match. Byron finally received her title shot on April 25 at WNC's one year anniversary event, where she pinned new champion Makoto in a seven-way match, which also included Arisa Nakajima, Command Bolshoi, Kayoko Haruyama, Nikki Storm and Syuri, to become the third WNC Women's Champion. She made her first successful title defense on July 25 against Serena. However, during the match Byron suffered an ankle injury and, after an examination by a physician, it was announced on July 27 that she had fractured her left ankle, which forced her to relinquish the WNC Women's Championship. Byron returned from her injury on October 31, wrestling rookie Haruka Yoshimura to a draw in a three-minute exhibition match. Byron's official return match took place on November 2, when she and Jiro Kuroshio were defeated in a tag team match by Command Bolshoi and El Hijo del Pantera. On November 29, Byron received her rematch for the WNC Women's Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Syuri. In January 2014, Byron entered a storyline, where she became the only female wrestler in WNC to refuse to sign a dual contract with WNC and Reina Joshi Puroresu (where she already worked regularly under her Ray persona), claiming that she did not want to become affiliated with a group that had Syuri as its "ace". Byron continued teasing a return to her villainous persona by starting a storyline rivalry with Makoto's Shiritsu Puroresu Gakuen stable in April. The turn came on April 25, when Byron, returning to her black attire and dubbing herself "Bitch is Back", teamed with Aki Shizuku, Alex Lee and Dump Matsumoto to defeat Makoto and her stablemates Haruka Kato, Kaho Kobayashi and Koharu Hinata in an eight-woman tag team match. On June 18, it was announced that WNC would be shutting down following June 26. This led to the promotion dropping the Byron-Makoto rivalry with the two making peace at the final event due to the Lin Byron character not making the transfer over to Reina. In storyline, Lin Byron returned to Hong Kong after the closing of WNC. Freelancing (2012–2015) After leaving Ice Ribbon and