What’s the story?
Bayley is one of the most popular Superstars – male or female – on the WWE roster, but, it’s also safe to say that she also hasn’t had the impact that some people expected after her brilliant run on NXT.
From the outside looking in, it seems like the company is scaling back on her for a bit until they can find the best way to use her to her full potential. But, could reaching that potential include a heel turn? According to Bayley herself, it’s not out of the question. In fact, she’s got some ideas of her own.
In case you didn’t know...
Bayley had a pretty epic run in NXT – even to the point that some were calling her “the female John Cena”. She was one of the “Four Horsewomen of NXT”, along with Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair. Those three made it to the main roster before her but, to be fair, she was also NXT Women’s Champion at the time.
When she finally hit the main roster herself, it was with a bang and she eventually landed the Raw Women’s Championship – and even successfully defended it at WrestleMania 33. A loss to Alexa Bliss after the Superstar Shake-up for the title – and a subsequent loss at Extreme Rules in a rematch – has got us wondering what’s next for WWE’s premier hugger.
The heart of the matter
Whether or not WWE decides to switch Bayley from huggable good guy to loathsome bad guy is one thing, Bayley recently told Stone Cold Steve Austin on his podcast that she’s got an idea for a heel turn – and it was inspired by Eddie Guerrero.
“I remember watching him — this was like a couple of years ago, so I was already here — and I was watching his old matches in WCW when he was just a heel coming out with his hair soaking wet. He looked miserable! You don’t get that anymore out of heels being like coming out like they’re completely miserable. And then he’d get into the ring and be so nasty and just have that look of like disgust and he was too good for it all. I always told myself too if I were to ever be heel I want to make myself so miserable because that’s one of the most hateable things, I think.”
What’s next?
It’s hard to say what WWE has planned for Bayley at this point, but they’re still keeping her in the eyes of fans with promos and moments, they clearly have plans of some sort. Perhaps we’ll see something at Great Balls of Fire in a couple of weeks.
Author’s take
I’m old enough to remember Eddie’s heel turn in WCW with the greasy hair and the scowl, and Bayley’s right – that’s some way to begin a heel turn.
Considering Eddie was the happy, smiley good guy during his original run, Bayley’s on to something in regards to using this as a template for a future run as a bad guy.
