Bayley and Her Lost Character on the Main Roster

Last night we all watched Bayley retain her Raw Women’s Championship and end Charlotte’s PPV streak at 16 in the process. I am personally surprised by the decision to have Bayley end the streak and wonder why they didn’t pick a more worthy opponent. Let me preface this by saying, I am not a huge Bayley fan and seriously question her place on the roster.

While she was a “Kid” sensation at NXT, I never once thought her gimmick would work on the main stage. The quirky music, blowup props and colorful attire is the closest thing we have seen to Dude Love or the Macho Man in quite some time. To be honest, judging by the crowd’s reaction, there may be a reason why that gimmick was tucked far away in the world of creative misfortune. It seems it isn’t only me who has questions, as Bayley herself may have had the same thoughts at one time too.

On a recent episode of longtime WWE ring announcer Lillian Garcia’s podcast Making Their Way To The Ring, Bayley opened up about the long year she spent in NXT after watching her three counterparts get their call up to the main roster.

Bayley remained in WWE’s developmental division and watched from the sideline as three of the former Four Horsewomen put on a stellar show in front of the biggest audience in WWE history. This lead to her questioning her style and character, wondering if she was main roster material. This is what Bayley had to say……..

“At first… it sucked. To be honest, it sucked, because I wanted to go. I wanted that so bad. But when I saw them debut I couldn’t feel anything but happiness for them. I was just excited. I was like, ‘OK we’re going in the right direction. It’s another step in the right direction.’

Honestly I didn’t think… I thought I would be there shortly after with them. I texted them, I’m so happy for them, it’s great, it was amazing. This whole Women’s Revolution is taking off even more.

But I thought ‘well OK, I’ll be there, maybe a couple more months and that would be fine.’ And I was the champion so it was OK. But then it took a whole ‘nother year, and I have to say that it was probably the best year I’ve had in wrestling thus far, because I had to rely on myself.

While they were there I was like ‘as long as I have them, I know I’ll be OK in matches’ or whatever it was. But once they left I became the leader of the NXT women’s division, and I had the title. We had just started touring, so I got to go over to the UK and go to all these new places for the first time as the Women’s Champion.”

So it was a huge deal. I got to work with Asuka, who is amazing. I would have never been able to work with her had I gone up. I got to work with Nia Jax when she just started, and that’s just a whole other obstacle, like I’ve never been in the ring with someone like her before. I got to work with Eva Marie, who is very new… so many different people and all the new people at NXT that I was able to learn [from] and teach at the same time.

…. I kept hearing things about ‘oh you guys are going to go,’ and I thought it was going to be all four of us. So that’s kind of like what I expected, and then when it was everybody but me, I… Honestly I was like ‘maybe I wouldn’t work with WWE. Maybe Bayley is just an NXT character.’”

The reason why I bring this to the forefront is because I, too question Bayley as a legitimate wrestler on the main roster. Her skill set is very limited and her crowd reaction seems to be fading faster than the idea of Shaq as a competent wrestler. In my mind, while watching her match last night with Charlotte, these concerns were validated. Whether it was the dead crowd throughout the match or Cory Graves trying to continually cover up her botched spots, it made for some unentertaining television. Charlotte did all she could do to keep the crowd involved, but until Sasha come out to make the save, the arena was silent.

The WWE has a special thing going for them right now at the peak of the Women’s Revolution. They have a talented roster with female athletes that warrant just as much Main Event potential as their male counterparts. Charlotte is a prodigy who continues to show her genes of greatness and Sasha, when healthy, has already proven her worth. Becky is still a solid number 3, while Bayley is entrenched at the bottom. This is just predicated on the Four Horsewomen themselves and could be highlighted greatly if I opened the list up to the likes of Nia, Alexa and Asuka. In fact, I feel I could make a very valid argument for Asuka’s character to be on RAW instead of Bayley.

In my opinion, the women of this age are on a steady ride that shows no signs of slowing down. However, in every train or automobile, there could always be a loose wheel. Unfortunately, I feel Bayley is that loose wheel and she leaves me no reason to think it will get tightened up any time soon!

***The above article expresses my opinions only. As always, I stand behind my views and am interested to hear yours. I look forward to seeing your comments and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter (@TCutillo23) to get all my updates…………