“I Didn’t Know How Powerful It Would Be” – Bayley Breaks Character While Reflecting at Her Transformation Over The Years

It was the Smackdown after Clash of Champions 2019. Charlotte Flair had beaten Bayley for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. The loss came as a reality check to Bayley as she underwent one of the most shocking character transformations in WWE.

Bayley was the biggest babyface in WWE

Bayley was the white bread babyface that fans loved. Her popularity at NXT helped launch her career on the main roster. She quickly won the Raw Women’s Championship and Smackdown Women’s championship in her first three years on the main roster. She even won the Women’s tag titles and the Money in the Bank contract.

Despite her accomplishments, she was loved more when she was chasing the title and not as a champion. In fact, she wasn’t as effective a champion as Charlotte Flair or Alexa Bliss, and her popularity was nowhere close to that of Becky Lynch or Sasha Banks. Her loss to Flair was celebrated by fans who reveled in Bayley’s misery.

The debut of the new and improved Bayley

In a rematch for the title, she debuted her new persona with new gear, new hair and a new attitude. Say hello to heel Bayley. Fans could not imagine Bayley cast in the role of a heel which she played to absolute perfection.

Her matches became instantly more interesting, her character work was phenomenal, and she started cutting the best promos of any women’s wrestler in WWE. She thrived as SmackDown’s top heel and her reign has surpassed the one-year mark.

In an episode of WWE Chronicle, Bayley was seen watching her transformation from the ‘Hugger’ to the slimy heel champion she is now. She said, “I realised I’ve been roaming around dressed like a 12-year old. I needed to evolve and it took a lot to do so.”

“The evolution was complete”

Bayley’s new haircut perfectly suited her new character. She retired the high ponytail and adopted a shorter hairdo. She said, “Cutting my hair literally felt like shedding dead skin. I didn’t realise how powerful it felt.”

On the same night, she destroyed the inflatable Bayley buddies with a sharp blade attached to a 2×4. “It felt symbolic, it felt like I had completed the evolution into what I had been suppressing for so long.”

Bayley faces Sasha Banks at Hell in a Cell for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The roles are now the opposite of what they were in NXT. Sasha is hellbent on proving that Bayley is nothing without her, and Bayley will be looking to prove just how much better she is than Sasha.