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Achieving significant success over her WWE tenure, Bayley has effectively embodied both the ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ roles in her storylines.
On a particularly impressive hot streak this year, Bayley has claimed victory in the Women’s Royal Rumble 2024 and also overcame adversary IYO SKY at the seminal WrestleMania 40 event.
Besides these wins, Bayley has triumphantly preserved her Women’s Championship title in numerous bouts and is set to defend it against competitor Nia Jax at the impending SummerSlam 2024.
In a recent episode of Cody Rhodes’ podcast, “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” Bayley gave an introspective analysis of her move to play a heel character back in 2019, she shares,
“Sure, I was fraught with worry as I pondered, ‘What if this plan fails?’ Yet, I also found myself in a rut since my previous cheerful, beloved character was no longer effective. That’s when I realized that if I don’t implement this change, I would never find out the outcome. As a lifelong fan of the sport, I’ve always sought diversity in my roles – I want to portray a hero, a villain, engage in romances, and be open to the wildest ideas simply because I want to gain all those experiences. Certainly, I was initially anxious as I anticipated receiving a lot of female Cena remarks. While that is, of course, the greatest compliment for my then persona, the urge to experiment with different roles was strong. Hence, I decided to play the bad guy, because I felt my story was in stagnation. It was perfect timing to find out that my bosses at WWE backed this change.”
Bayley further unveiled that her character switch was greatly aided by her decision to crop her long hair before obtaining confirmation for the transition. This physical modification played a key role in successfully implementing the new gimmick, she believes.