Bayley On PWI Women’s Top 100, Embracing The Dark Side

WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley has shared her feelings on being ranked #1 on the PWI Women’s Top 100 list. She broached the subject while appearing on an episode of the PWI Podcast.

When asked if she believes PWI was right in making her #1, Bayley stated, “Hell yea. I think it’s obvious that I made a major change late last year.”

She explained how it felt that everybody thought her heel turn was doomed to fail. Bayley highlighted how people maybe thought the wrong decision had been made and she “couldn’t pull it off.”

As far as Bayley’s concerned, she’s “proved everyone wrong, especially with the craziness of what has been going on with the pandemic and not being able to perform in front of fans, which makes everything harder. But, I was still able to pull it off and use it to my advantage.”

Bayley also spoke about how everyone second-guessed turning her heel. She stressed how the uncertainty stemmed from her long-term run as a babyface, highlighting how she had found so much success with that character over 7 years. Despite this success, she knew it wasn’t something she wanted to do forever.

“I want to experience everything in my career. I want to ride the wave and do all sorts of things. I knew I couldn’t do it being that one character. Honestly, once I had the company’s blessing and Vince’s blessing, I knew I had to make it work. I had to make it work because it was my decision. If I failed then I failed myself and I failed the company.”

She shared how she used people’s doubts as fuel to prove them wrong. Bayley noted how this translated on-screen, explaining how she was committed to making the heel turn work for herself on a personal level.

By making it work and proving it to herself, it subsequently quietened the doubters and proved she could do it to those backstage, including Vince McMahon.