If you were making some kind of power ranking to determine the biggest stars in WWE NXT history, Bayley has to be somewhere near the top of that list.
Bayley made her main roster debut during the summer of 2016 after spending years in NXT, where she was featured in groundbreaking matches against the likes of Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair. She was hailed as one of NXT’s revolutionary Four Horsewomen, but her character — however you would describe what that character actually is — hasn’t resonated with the mainstream WWE audience thus far.
Bayley wouldn’t be the first NXT Superstar to flop on the main stage. We’ve seen a lot of successful NXT Superstars take on the same challenges Bayley has faced. Despite the obvious pattern here, Bayley reached levels of success in NXT that many haven’t, which makes WWE’s inability to make her character work considerably more perplexing than the likes of say, Adam Rose.
Unfortunately for Bayley and her fellow side-pony-sporting fans, if one report is to be believed, WWE doesn’t believe that she can be a major star for the company moving forward. During a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer claimed that WWE has “already given up” on Bayley.
Transcript courtesy of Wrestling News Source:
“They have already given up on her. And they’ve given up on her a long long time ago. When they’re gonna protect Mickie James over you — when Mickie James was brought in to be a filler to lose on the roster — that just tells you. The dice has been cast with her already.”
If there is any silver lining here, it’s that WWE has a history of “giving up” on Superstars, only to have those same Superstars figure it out eventually. Look no further than former NXT Champion Drew McIntyre, or even better, former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal. In a lot of ways, Mahal’s recent success gives hope to everyone. If WWE can have its faith restored in a rock-band jobber, they can have their faith restored in one of the most beloved Superstars in NXT history.
(Check out our must-listen McMahonsplaining podcast with WWE superstar Braun Strowman. Subscribe on iTunes or Google.)
[protected-iframe id=”73c66578d067e49d317811d9ead9c0b6-60970621-10222937″ info=”https://omny.fm/shows/mcmahonsplaining/episode-20-braun-strowman/embed?style=artwork” width=”100%” height=”180″ frameborder=”0″]
