A number of subjects delved into by Bayley.
Prior to the storyline kicking off that Bayley was attacked prior to her and Lyra Valkyria’s Women’s Tag Team Title match at WrestleMania 41, she sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an interview.
Bayley revealed that she has a year and a half left on her current WWE contract. She does not know what is going to happen once that it is up. She feels she’s accomplished a lot in WWE but there are a new wave of women making their way up the totem pole and are ready to take over.
I have so many other things I want to make it into (Bayley said about what her wrestling school would consist of). But yeah, I have a year and a half left on this current contract. So we’ll see what happens then. And then what? Man, I don’t know. I don’t know. I think I’ve done everything I really wanna do — not everything. There’s still a lot I want to get done but, done so much with WWE and I’ve been here for already 12 years, and there’s like a huge wave of women coming in that I think are ready to take over and ready to be in those spots. Teaming with Lyra (Valkyria) right now has been super eye-opening to what the whole division has to offer. I’ve got to work with Roxanne (Perez), I got to work with Cora (Jade). But, even like last night, hanging out with Lyra… we went out to dinner and we hung out with Michin for her birthday but, being able to hang out with her outside of wrestling and hearing her mindset and why she does this and why she wants to make it better and what she wants to make better and how she wants to help even me. Things that we’re doing going into WrestleMania, how she wants to be better for me makes me so happy that there’s people like that and women like that that wanna be better for the division. So, when I think about, okay, I might be done in a couple of years, who knows? I know it’s gonna be in good hands. So that makes me really happy, where before it might’ve — John Cena always says, you know, he couldn’t leave because who was gonna do what he does? Who’s gonna take his place? Who’s gonna be the one to freakin’ put asses in seats? Who’s gonna be the one that the kids wanna see? That the kids idolize to the level that he does? And like, Cody’s doing that, you know? And I’m not saying I’m John Cena of course, but I’m just saying — yeah (I’ve been called ‘female John Cena’). A long time ago… But that’s kind of the same mindset. As long as it’s in good hands — the goal was to just leave it in a better place than you found it.
She expressed that she’s having a hard time finding herself as a babyface. Bayley stated that just being her real-life self on television is not enough.
She then spoke about her 2024 WWE Women’s Title reign and that not being what she thought it was going to be. Bayley feels that showed in her in-ring performances.
Yeah, yeah (I have more fun as a heel). I’m still having a hard time finding myself as a babyface right now… I feel like I’m just so much of me as a person, like me, Pam, and it doesn’t translate well in wrestling. So I’m trying to find how that works. In my mind, when I was like, okay, I’m gonna turn, me and Damage CTRL are breaking up, win the title. I thought it was like, oh, I’m gonna have the most fun. Now I have the experience of a good guy and a bad guy. I’m gonna be like Stone Cold Steve Austin and I’m gonna have the most fun ever and it just wasn’t that. It just wasn’t fun. It was just kind of like, merr. I wasn’t having fun and I felt like the reign wasn’t what I thought it was gonna be. So that obviously translated in the ring and it just — nothing was there so I feel like I’m still trying to find where that is. But, as a heel, it’s so fun. I can just turn up my annoying sh*t, easily. Like, how I am with my friends or how I am with my family or my mom. I’m so annoying to my mom. I can just turn all that up and people can relate to that I think because they all know somebody like that. There’s just like too much. Like, dude, shut up. You’re too much, and that’s really fun. I feel like Liv (Morgan) is in that spot right now where like, she’s the sweetest ever. But she also has this side of her of she’s super talkative and social and loud and now she can bring all that into a character and turn it up a million and do it with Dom (Mysterio) who is like, everyone loves to hate right now so, I think it’s more fun, and I know everybody says that but, not everybody can do it I think.
A conversation sparked up about Bayley not getting the respect she deserves from some sections of fans. It does get to her, but she understands it to a certain degree. Bayley admitted that she feels she’s not on the same level as her fellow Four Horsewomen, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.
Yeah, what the heck, guys? (Bayley responded to a point that there’s a section of fans that do not give her respect she deserves)… And that sucks because like I said, I don’t let things get to me and I stopped reading tweets or comments and all that stuff a long time ago. But I do feel that and I see that and I’m just like, what am I missing? So that’s the one thing that still gets to me and maybe that’s ego or pride or whatever but I’m just like, what am I missing that you don’t understand what I’ve done for this industry? It’s hard to explain, and especially now because I feel like, okay, I’ve been doing this for — now I’ve been wrestling for like 16 years, altogether. So, I’m like, okay, well obviously, I’m gonna slow down at some point but now when I see sh*t like that, ‘Oh, she’s not this or not this…’ Now I gotta prove them wrong. But there’s also a part of me that feels and agrees with them, and I was just telling Lyra (Valkyria) this the other day. We’ve been doing a lot of bonding. I don’t feel that I’m at a level of Charlotte (Flair) or a Becky (Lynch). But we came up together and I wrestled Charlotte in her first match ever. I was signed to WWE before Becky. To me, they’re up here and I’m just not there yet, and maybe that’s kind of where people base it off or where they judge it or whatever. But, I keep saying, I get my feedback and opinions from the right people, to me. Someone like Tyler Breeze who taught me so many things. I still talk to him about all my matches, he still gives me feedback, he still gives me ideas to this day and if he enjoys something that I do then I believe it and I respect it. But if he tells me, ‘You need to do this better,’ I’ll do it. Someone like T.J. (Wilson), whatever he says, I respect it and I believe him. So, as many people think that I’m not at this level or whatever, part of me agrees with them because I don’t think I’m there yet.
An update on Bayley was provided on Raw and it was stated that she suffered a partial shoulder dislocation and an anterior labrum tear.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
