Her character change, additional members of Damage CTRL and more discussed by Bayley.
For the past four years of her career, Bayley has been presenting the current version of her on-screen character. Prior to this, she was known as ‘The Hugger’ which started in NXT and came to an end as SmackDown was beginning its run on FOX.
There is a sit-down interview that Ariel Helwani conducted with Bayley on the BT Sport YouTube channel and she spoke about that character change. Bayley touched on the crowd beginning to turn on her and felt they were done with the act of just being happy to be in WWE.
To me, it just felt natural (turning heel). What I was doing, that, at the time, felt unnatural to them (the fans) but I think it’s because I truly outgrew it, the character I was trying to portray because when I was ‘The Hugger’ in NXT and I was super fan favorite, I really felt all these things, I really felt in awe to be in WWE, I felt in awe to be around all these superstars because I was a superfan growing up, you know? But as I got older and as I got more experience and I had won a championship, it’s like, alright, you’ve done these things. Get over it. Get over being excited about being here. You’ve been here for six years already so, I think they just didn’t feel that connection like they used to which is totally understandable because I didn’t either. I felt like it was time to just have a change.
Looking back at her start in WWE, Bayley mentioned that she did believe she’d be fired because she thought the company would not see anything in her.
She shared that it was Dusty Rhodes who ‘saved’ her because he got Bayley to venture into the persona that eventually established her in NXT.
I don’t think I was close to quitting (my first month in WWE), but I just didn’t think I was gonna have fun and I don’t think I could have ever quit. I just thought I was going to get fired because they wouldn’t see anything in me, you know? And I definitely think Dusty Rhodes saved me because I had nothing to offer except what I could do in the ring at the time and he pushed me in promo class and brought out this character in me and brought out my personality which I didn’t think was okay to show because the women weren’t really seen like that and I didn’t think it was okay to be a fan and then that became my character was being the super fan so, he definitely saved me and then I started having fun.
As the idea of ‘Damage CTRL’ was coming about, one of the names Bayley was considering for the group was ‘The Now’. She stated that there was legal-related things that prevented that from being their name.
My first original one (name for Damage CTRL), I wanted to be called ‘The Now’ because I didn’t wanna worry — I didn’t care about the championships I won in the past, I don’t care about what happens next. These girls right here and what we’re about to do, the present is all that matters so ‘The Now’ is my first idea… There’s a show called ‘The Now’ or something like that. It’s just legal stuff.
Damage CTRL currently consists of Bayley and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions IYO SKY and Dakota Kai. Initially, Bayley wanted five members of Damage CTRL and she has suggested names to Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
In response to those names, Levesque told Bayley to ‘relax’ and just allow the current members of the group to get established first.
If it was up to me (how many members of Damage CTRL there would be) — see, we’re so far in now. If you were to ask me at first, I wanted five… I don’t wanna give it away (who I would add)… I have people in mind but if it happens because I still would like it to happen, you know? I don’t wanna give it away… Yes (it’s possible for it to still happen)… Yeah (it’s people who are currently on the main roster)… I’ve sent a few pitches in the past and he’s like, ‘Just relax. You guys need to get established first’ and I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re right,’ which we do and there’s still so much for us to show the world and establish ourselves first and just get excited.
Levesque took over the role as Chief Content Officer before the 2022 SummerSlam Premium Live Event where Damage CTRL debuted.
Bayley is not sure what she would be doing if Levesque was not in charge and guessed that she’d likely be slotted back into the role she was in pre-injury.
To be honest, I don’t know (what I’d be doing if Triple H was not in charge). I didn’t know any ideas that they had for me. Even if I asked creative, they weren’t really sure because they were waiting until I was 100 percent cleared so I had no idea what I was doing. To me, I feel like I would have just fallen back into the same place that I was. Not that that’s a bad thing because I didn’t get to do anything with the fans so it would’ve still been all new to me and I would’ve turned it up a million but, this to me is what I wanted and what I needed and even in my career, not just to help IYO (SKY) and Dakota (Kai) and the division but to me, it just adds another layer and another piece of evolution to my character, to show a different side of me… I don’t know. There’s just more to it than just being me and worrying about me, me, me, me and me. Now, I got these girls to worry about and I love it. It’s what I wanted.
This coming Monday on Raw, IYO SKY and Dakota Kai are defending the Women’s Tag Titles against Becky Lynch and WWE Hall of Famer Lita.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the original source with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
