Imagine the setting. The place? The Verizon Center in Washington D.C. The Date? July 24th, 2016. Thousands of WWE fans packed the venue to watch Battleground, the final pay per view before WWE’s brand split. The team of Charlotte and Dana Brooke were taking on Sasha Banks and a mystery partner. The first three women were in the ring when Bayley‘s music hit on the main roster for the very first time, and the crowd absolutely lost their minds. Fast forward less than a year and Bayley is being booed as Alexa Bliss eviscerates her with a kendo stick. What went wrong?
How WWE Botched Bayley
First and foremost, the biggest problem with Bayley is the way she has been presented on the main roster as opposed to how she was in NXT. In NXT, Bayley was often presented as a doe-eyed, innocent fan-girl, but she was never presented as stupid or naive. She trusted too easily and wanted to see the best in people, but she came off as more of a cool babysitter, a girl next door type.
On the main roster, it’s been completely different. The concept is still the same, that she’s been a fan her whole life and that she wanted to be a WWE superstar, but that’s about it. On the main roster, her character is impossibly naive. She trusts everyone, seems completely oblivious to ulterior motives, and turns into a sad puppy every time someone is mean to her.
The way she’s been booked makes her seem less like a cool babysitter and more like a kid that needs babysitting. Alexa Bliss, who is nowhere near as good as Bayley in the ring, is much better on the microphone, and during this feud, she’s torn Bayley apart. Even with he dreadful “this is your life” segment, Bliss has come off looking more mature, more intelligent, and more capable of holding the women’s title.
Booking
Another way the WWE have sabotaged Bayley on the main roster is her booking. When she made her debut, people loved her. She was red hot and everyone believed she could be the face of Raw’s Women’s division. They had a golden opportunity to give her a great WrestleMania moment, and they absolutely ruined it.
Once again, rewind to when Bayley made her debut. At this time, Charlotte was the Raw Women’s Champion, and she hadn’t lost on pay per view yet. Almost immediately after making her debut, Bayley began chasing Charlotte and the Women’s Championship. It felt like a forgone conclusion that Charlotte would keep ducking Bayley until WrestleMania, where she would have her Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30 moment.
Instead, she beat Charlotte, with an assist from Sasha Banks, on an episode of Raw. A couple weeks later, she successfully retained, again, with help from Sasha, at Fastlane. There was some potential for a great angle where Sasha only used Bayley because she couldn’t beat Charlotte, but they completely trashed it. So basically, Bayley won a title with help, and never got to prove herself.
She won a multi-woman match at Mania, which didn’t advance any storylines, and then Alexa Bliss, who has been the star of the brand split, came to Raw and got over. Even though Bayley seems like the most genuine, friendly person in wrestling, people were excited to see Bliss take the belt from her.
The Last Word
Ultimately, Bayley can find a comfy spot next to Tyler Breeze, the Ascension, and Apollo Crews as people that have been called up from NXT, only to flounder on the main roster. The character she’s been given is a severely watered down version of the insanely popular NXT version, she hasn’t had a great moment for herself yet, and she’s coming off a brutal squash match with Alexa Bliss.
Maybe WWE is hoping that they can recreate the Daniel Bryan storyline, but as far as I can remember, the fans never booed Bryan during the Yes Movement. If there’s going to be any hope for everyone’s favorite Hugger, WWE is going to have to start over, and give her something real to work on. Before it’s too late.
