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There are a lot of things to be mad about at WWE today, from the truly vile to the creatively unsatisfying. But with those things making headlines, there’s at least one story worth celebrating, both in their fictional world and ours.
Bayley, the least famous but arguably the most valuable of the NXT Horsewomen who helped change women’s wrestling in the 2010s, is finally ready for the main roster babyface run she deserves.
Her early WWE career in NXT gave us one of the best pure sides of modern wrestling, with Bayley’s time on the main event women’s title show from 2014-2016 giving us a great storyline that helped establish her , Sasha Banks (now Mercedes Moné), and Asuka as stars. But even though she included one of her best matches of the decade in her championship victory over Banks at Takeover: Brooklyn (and possibly two of the best matches of the decade if we include Iron Woman’s rematch in Taking control: respect), remains a streak that was primarily experienced by wrestling fans and not the WWE fanbase at large.
Once she arrived on Raw in 2016, the last of the Horsewomen to be promoted, Bayley certainly had a lot of success. But for a variety of reasons, her side ponytail fangirl shtick never translated well to the main cast. Despite adding the Raw and SmackDown singles belts, the Women’s Tag Team titles, and a Money in the Bank briefcase to her trophy case, the Hugger was one step below the biggest stars of the so-called Women’s Evolution. . Bayley, the main roster babyface, was more of a sidekick than a superhero.
That’s why his turnaround in 2019 was so celebrated. Cutting her hair and hitting the extravagant waving inflatable tubes with a kendo stick was a much-needed moment that allowed Bayley to forge a new identity on WWE’s biggest stages. His role-model persona was one of the bright spots of the pandemic-era empty-arena shows. He still wasn’t properly appreciated, at least by the people running the company at the time. Otherwise, she would not have been assigned hostess duties in WrestleMania 37 instead of a marquee match.
Always the team player, Bayley ignored that and went to work helping to establish Bianca Belair as a main eventer… only to be sidelined by a torn ACL that kept her out of action for a year. The return of her to summer festival 2022 gave us Damage CTRL, a faction that has primarily been used to elevate IYO SKY to the star she was destined to be… but that began to change when Bayley won the Royal Rumble last Saturday.
The crowd at Tropicana Field was with her, even though she was still playing as a heel. That set the stage for last night (February 2) on SmackDown, a perfectly executed turn for Bayley that saw her uncover SKY’s plot with Asuka and Kairi Sane to kick her out of the group.
Even knowing that the Japanese wing of the faction she had created planned to do her dirty, Bayley attempted to appeal to IYO. His plan for the group sounded more altruistic than ever. Trying to throw it one last time only to be attacked made her more sympathetic than ever, which was evident in the boos of the Birmingham, Alabama crowd when she was being defeated by the Kabuki Warriors and the WWE Women’s Champion, and their cheers. when Bayley announced. she would go after SKY and title her in WrestleMania 40.
Win or lose in Philadelphia, the public is ready to celebrate Bayley the way her peers always have, who generally praise her as a selfless creative partner and a passionate behind-the-scenes advocate for her colleagues.
No hugs required.
