From hugging woman to one of the biggest villains in WWE. Bayley began her career in WWE NXT, by spreading and collecting sympathy from the fans, having won the NXT Women’s Championship with that character, but since September 2019 she has been one of the main antagonists of the most beloved fighters on the main roster.
Born on June 15, 1989, in San José, in the US state of California, to a Mexican-American family, Pamela Rose Martinez, her real name, started playing basketball, athletics and martial arts, but in April 2008 started training for pro wrestling.
After passing through several independent companies, he signed a contract with WWE in December 2012, having made his debut in the NXT ring the following month.
In the WWE development brand, he began to fill in a list of titles that included the NXT Women’s Championship (one reign), the Raw Women’s Championship (one), the SmackDown Women’s Championship (two) and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship (two, both alongside Sasha Banks), having even won the Money in the Bank Ladder match in 2019.
It is therefore worth remembering the ten best fights of Bayley’s career, in chronological order.
NXT TakeOver: Rival (February 11, 2015)
NXT Women’s Championship:
Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch vs. bayley
On the January 21, 2015 episode of NXT, Charlotte successfully defended the NXT Women’s Championship against Sasha Banks, as she had done before on TakeOver: R Evolution and on the December 25 episode. However, after this last defence, she was attacked by Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, who formed a faction, Team BAE (Best at Everything).
Bayley, who had been away from the ring since November due to an injury caused by Sasha and Becky, returned to save Charlotte but then ended up attacking the champion, albeit reluctantly.
Faced with the confusion generated, William Regal appeared on the scene to set up a fatal-four-way match between the four for the title of NXT TakeOver: Rival. However, the alliance between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch was undone, as Sasha caused Becky’s defeat in a match against Bayley on the February 4 episode, the last one before the title match.
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn (August 22, 2015)
NXT Women’s Championship:
Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bayley
The culmination of a rivalry that had begun two years earlier, when Bayley and Sasha Banks entered the tournament to crown the first NXT Women’s Champion and were eliminated in the first round.
Since then, they’ve always been on opposite sides of the barricade: Sasha Banks was allied with Summer Rae and Charlotte Flair (formed as The BFFs) and later Becky Lynch, while Bayley was by Charlotte’s side until she joined The BFFs, Natalya and Becky Lynch is even allying with Sasha.
However, Sasha Banks won the NXT Women’s Championship by beating the then champion Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley in a fatal-four way match at NXT TakeOver: Rival, having defended it in the following months against Charlotte, Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch.
At the same time, Bayley defeated Emma at the culmination of the rivalry between the two, on the July 22 episode of NXT, and announced that she had the aspiration to win the title. First, he challenged and beat Charlotte two weeks later to prove he was worthy to fight for the belt. Afterwards, he received the opportunity to fight for the title by defeating Becky Lynch on the August 12 episode, having decided then that he would face the champion Sasha Banks at TakeOver: Brooklyn.
NXT TakeOver: Respect (October 7, 2015)
30-minute Iron Man match for the NXT Women’s Championship:
Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks
At TakeOver: Brooklyn, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to capture the NXT Women’s Championship. After the match, Becky Lynch and Charlotte came to the ring and partied with Bayley. Sasha Banks, who had just lost the title, also embraced Bayley.
However, the feud continued, with NXT General Manager William Regal announcing that Bayley would defend the title against Sasha in a 30-minute Iron Man match at TakeOver: Respect.
NXT TakeOver: Dallas (April 1, 2016)
NXT Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Asuka
After Bayley retained the NXT Women’s Championship against Carmella on the February 10 episode of NXT, Carmella was attacked by Eva Marie and Nia Jax as Bayley struggled to defend herself until she received help from Asuka, who helped her fend off Marie and Jax earlier to signal that he wanted to challenge her for the title.
After Bayley and Asuka defeated Marie and Jax in a tag team match during the March 16 episode, General Manager William Regal announced that the champion would defend the title against the Japanese woman at TakeOver: Dallas.
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II (August 20, 2016)
NXT Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Bayley
At TakeOver: Dallas, Asuka defeated Bayley via submission, due to the former champion fainting, to win the NXT Women’s Championship. However, on the May 18 episode of NXT, Nia Jax defeated and injured Bayley, sidelining her for a few weeks.
At TakeOver: The End, Nia Jax replaced Bayley, who would be entitled to a rematch for the title at that event but was defeated by Asuka.
She would return to action on the June 22 episode, having beaten Deonna Purrazzo. In the weeks that followed, tensions between Asuka and Bayley escalated to the scheduling of a title match between the two for TakeOver: Brooklyn II. On the August 17 episode, the champion and former champion signed the combat contract.
Monday Night Raw (February 13, 2017)
WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Bayley
At Roadblock: End of the Line, Charlotte Flair beat Sasha Banks in overtime in a 30-minute Iron Man match to capture the Raw Women’s Championship.
On the following night’s episode of Raw, Charlotte proclaimed herself the best female wrestler of all time but was interrupted by Bayley, who recalled the champion who had defeated her on previous occasions.
Meanwhile, Bayley beat Charlotte in a non-title match, but television footage showed Charlotte had lifted her shoulder before the settlement came to an end.
A week later, Charlotte faced Bayley again, this time with Dana Brooke as guest referee, and won through a pinfall counted very quickly by Brooke.
On the January 2, 2017 episode of Raw, she beat Nia Jax due to a distraction caused by Sasha Banks and became the top contender for the Raw Women’s Championship at the Royal Rumble . The following week, Flair and Jax attacked Bayley and Banks and subsequently defeated them in a tag team match.
At the Royal Rumble, Charlotte retained the title by defeating Bayley after a Natural Selection at the edge of the ring . On Raw, the following night, Bayley, Cesaro and Sheamus teamed up to defeat Charlotte, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, with Bayley making the bottom on Charlotte, which meant that Bayley received another opportunity to challenge for the title.
Monday Night Raw (August 10, 2020)
Bayley vs. Asuka
At The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, the Raw Women’s Championship match between champion Asuka and Sasha Banks ended controversially, with Asuka spitting mist in the referee’s face , who in turn was undressed by Bayley, who wore the referee’s jersey and featured an alleged victorious landing by Sasha Banks, who would thus win the title .
However, on Raw the following night Stephanie McMahon announced that the match ended without a winner and that a rematch would be held the following week in a duel in which the title could be won by pinfall, submission, disqualification or countout.
While the rematch was taking place, Bayley, who was SmackDown champion at the time, attacked Asuka’s tag team partner, Kairi Sane, backstage. When seeing the images on the giant screen, Asuka abandoned the fight to see how Sane was doing, which was worth a countout defeat and the consequent loss of the title, which would be won by Sasha Banks.
On the August 3 episode, Asuka demanded a rematch for the title, but Sasha Banks said that the Japanese woman would have to beat Bayley the following week to earn the right to face the champion at SummerSlam.
Hell in a Cell 2020
Hell in a Cell match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship :
Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks
At Payback, Bayley and Sasha Banks lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship to Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax . On the episode of SmackDown that followed, Bayley and Sasha Banks were unsuccessful in their mission to regain the belts. After that failed attempt, she brutally attacked Sasha Banks, which led to the team’s disbandment.
After Bayley retained the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship at Clash of Champions: Gold Rush, after losing to Asuka via disqualification, Sasha Banks appeared and attacked Bayley with a chair .
On the following episode of SmackDown, Sasha Banks challenged Bayley to a title match a week later. Sasha would win the match, but by disqualification, after Bayley attacked her with a chair. That same night, Sasha challenged Bayley to another title match, this time in a Hell in a Cell match at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
SmackDown (November 6, 2020)
WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bayley
At Hell in a Cell, Sasha Banks defeated Bayley via submission, via a Bank Statement, to capture the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship.
On the following episode of SmackDown, Sasha Banks celebrated the victory and said that Bayley was in the past, but she interrupted her and said that Sasha can never be successful at retaining titles after winning them, having challenged her to a title match the following week, a challenge Sasha accepted.
Crown Jewel 2022 – Last Woman Standing match
WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair (c) vs. Bayley
After retaining the WWE Raw Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch at SummerSlam, Bianca Belair was pitted against returning Bayley, Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky, a trio that would call itself Damage CTRL.
At Clash at the Castle, Damage CTRL defeated Belair, Alexa Bliss and Asuka in a six-woman tag team match, with Bayley making the victorious landing on Belair .
Because he landed on the champion, she challenged Belair to a ladder match for the title at Extreme Rules. Belair accepted and ended up winning, despite interference from Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky .
However, she received another opportunity for the Raw Women’s Championship when she defeated Belair in a non-title match on the October 24 episode of Raw, due to interference from Nikki Cross. The title (re)match was scheduled for Crown Jewel under the rules of a Last Woman Standing match.