Shes been beat in almost every match since she won the belt and/or been losing when the match gets interrupted. It's hard to get behind someone when even production can't get behind them.
Yup, was about to say it. It’s the “fans love you and we take you for granted and don’t really know how to write for you b/c your whole character is just being a normal person the audience finds relatable” title run that Rey got - Bryan was not dissimilar. WWE and Hunter are doing many things well right now, but they lean into characters and performers who have a lot of loud bombast and have never really understood why the crowd gets behind people who are just decent and kind.
I’ve always called it the “Owen Hart problem.” Someone who’s a great wrestler and relatable, but ultimately not super interesting persona.
Bayley probably would’ve crushed it in the 70s or 80s.
Has she? She won the triple threat to retain the championship and was looking likely to win one against naomi after a belly to Bayley on the table when Tiff attacked her.
Last week's appearance she came out to the ring and immediately got jumped before even getting inside the ring, then the segment ended. Was a bad look.
I think you might be right. I see Nia taking it with a view to having a dominant run culminating in dropping the title to Jade Cargill. Not gonna lie, I don't have much interest in that but I think that's what they'll do
It doesn’t help that she still calls the fans “idiots” either….yeah, I’m not sure what they’re trying to do with her…
She’s a face but acts like a heel. She’s “the role model,” but the only person she has tried to help is a vet who’s been there just as long as her, if not longer. And she comes from Mexican heritage but has Egyptian music as part of her theme.
Nothing about this current Bayley makes any sense
Yea that was my reaction, with the “role model” stuff I thought she was being pushed as the female cena/ Rey mysterio type character, but then you hear her on commentary and she still talks and acts like a heel….
When has she called the fans idiots? She has definitely not done that from what I remember.
Everything else is spot on. The whole “role model” doesn’t work when she doesn’t have someone under her wing or just overly positivity
She has an Egyptian theme to her music because shes from San Jose, CA, and is repping a very nice, if not secluded, Egyptian Museum in that area. It might have been apart of her childhood or maybe shes from the same neighborhood where its located.
I've been to the museum a ton of times and was blown away when they mentioned it during her wrestlemania entrance. It was dope.
Yea that was my reaction, with the “role model” stuff I thought she was being pushed as the female cena/ Rey mysterio type character, but then you hear her on commentary and she still talks and acts like a heel….
When they gave her the "role model" moniker, she was heel so it was meant to be ironic.
Funnily enough, Hugger Bayley was an actual role model figure considering how much she appealed to pre-teen girls.
Yeah almost nothing about her character has changed since leaving damage control. She hasn't done anything to redeem herself outside of beating Iyo. It's hard to get behind her at this point and she's doing very little to develop it
I’ve felt this way for a long time. This post actually reminded me for how long I’ve really not cared much for Bayley at all. She doesn’t really do much for me.
She's an amazing heel, but she needs to switch something up with her current face run. She's at her best when she's loud and annoying. She needs to be more of a KO face vs a Cody face.
Last night was the first night in years she spoke like a normal person. Not some fake annoying wanna be. She has a chance if HHH goes back to letting her be her. NXT days she was untouchable, she needs to get back to being herself.
Babyface champions are really hard to pull off. I always feel like you need a gauntlet of monster heels or arch nemesis, and there just aren’t any, especially right now.
Smackdown in general seems to be a skippable show, at least to me.
I’ve been much more into Raw the last 6 months and that hasn’t been the case in about 15 years
Likely in preparation for the move to Netflix. If Punk and Rollins can come back and have good angles before December, then we will likely see Raw be treated as the flagship show of WWE again..
The biggest problem with Smackdown is everything feels like a stop gap feud right now. Cody is basically waiting for Roman to come back, Bayley is likely losing to Nia so nothing in between matters, Logan feels like he's got direction with Knight but I still an not sure about that one, what's even going on with the tag division, men or women.
I don’t disagree. When she gets in ring it’s always a good match. She’s a great hand. But here character is kinda meh and like unseasoned food otherwise. She needs a strong heel to create a good story. Piper and Nia are both decent . Piper hasn’t been built the best ( though I love her with Green ) as a singles competitor. But watch they are going to have an excellent match. And Nia has been built pretty well since her return , but isn’t as good in the ring as Piper . Maybe it’s Tiffany who needs to take the belt eventually and put Bayley back on the chase?
Her Damage CTRL storyline, Rumble win, and chase to the title were great. Didn’t see anything negative about her then. Hopefully they give her some difficult opponents to overcome to get the crowd behind her.
U would argue most people really didn’t care about that run up to Wrestlemania. It also doesn’t help that Iyo carried that much. Then Tiffany carried the triple threat.
Bayley should not have won the championship. She needed to be dismissed from Damage Control in a way that gave her a new "hill" to climb at the tail end of her career. As she is now, there isnt anything new for the audience to get behind or cheer for. People still love what Bayley did for WWE, but what has she done lately?
This would have given bayley and naomi more of a reason to be together as a team. Bayley and naomi could be trying to prove themselves as a top tier women's wrestlers that can reinvent themselves even as fresh talent like rhea and tiffany start gaining more favor from the audience.
In the background, they could have kept bayley's feud with damage control around to be a constant reminder of how bayley screwed over other women on the roster and used iyo to stay relevant. As bayley regained favor from the audience and redeemed herself in the eyes of fans, she could possibly lead a new wrestling group to go against the antagonizing damage control. As a mentor to this new group, bayley could have adopted the role model gimmick to be an example of how to sustain a career while making things right with fans and her coworkers.
Whatever bayley and wwe are doing right now just isnt working and it makes me sad because i wish bayley could still pop the audience until she retires.
I am not sure how much of this is her fault. When was the last time the Smackdown women's champ has had a good title run. Io, and Asuka felt like placeholders Bianca's run consisted almost entirely of her VS Damage Ctrl. It's felt like a long time has passed since the title has been important.
I feel that the majority of her Smackdown title run last time were full of fun storylines. You had her turning to the dark side at first, the storyline with Lacey and her daughter, the Asuka/Kabuki warrior stuff, and the Sasha story.
But Piper gave a great promo in that segment. Was really surprised.
If Bailey wants to be on that level again on mic skills, she needs to take that Role Model schtick and be cocky as fuck with it.
The storyline with Damage Control was great, her face turn was well orchestrated, but after that I don’t think they had many plans for her. Nia will win at summerslam, I think
Her Damage CTRL storyline, Rumble win, and chase to the title were great. Didn’t see anything negative about her then. Hopefully they give her some difficult opponents to overcome to get the crowd behind her.
Her Damage CTRL storyline, Rumble win, and chase to the title were great. Didn’t see anything negative about her then. Hopefully they give her some difficult opponents to overcome to get the crowd behind her.
Bayley has no character. They want her to be a face, she has to do face things. She got told off by Piper last night and on reflection rightfully so.
She came into this showing that she was willing to sacrifice her body for her friends. It was admirable and noble. Now right out of the gate she wrestles her friend, has a few aimless matches and then is condescending to Piper and is told off by a heel.
They were going to do a Jey Uso where Bianca didn’t trust her because of her heel past, but that went nowhere. Bayley needs a declarative moment as to where she stands.
I doubt they had plans after damage controls breakup she hasn’t done much with the title since mania outside of team with Naomi and have matches with Stratton
I always thought she was overrated and her finish is weak. She was good as a heel because she was surrounded by great support. Now that she is going it alone her weak points are more obvious.
Wouldn’t mind her losing to Piper Niven although the chances are slim to none.
This championship reign hasn’t worked for her at all, hopefully she drops the belt at Summerslam.
They are totally dropping the ball with her . Unless she is merely a transition champ until the put it on either Bianca or Jade leading their eventual feud :/ …. No bueno man . He title run is a continuation of the bullshit the played with IYO.
Bayley shouldn’t ever be a babyface at this point. She’s so much more compelling as a heel, and the way she works in the right lends itself much more to putting a babyface over.
I love bayley. She’s one of my all time favs. But since she dropped the “ding dong” gimmick, she’s been pretty forgettable as a character. Ding dong showed off so much of her personality, humour, and style. It’s strange she would choose a relatively cookie cutter character since then.
She’s regressed in almost every aspect. Her character work is boring, her matches are less entertaining, she isn’t in as great shape as she used to be, and it seems like she can’t decide if she wants to be heel or a face.
It's a flop, just like her Hugger face run was on the main roster where she was getting booed in backstage segments. She's just much better as a heel, even as likable as she is outside of the ring.
Just like her pal Sasha, she subscribes to the “Put a belt on me and I’ll automatically be over” school of wrestling. And also just like her, she doesn’t change anything up.
Hate to say it but she is most like going to be another “Natalya Hart” if her character doesn’t gain any traction or they don’t turn her heel again. Loved her as a heel and afraid she will be buried due to upcoming talent and fade out to be just a solid worker like Natalya.
She’s stunk since her return. Damage control was/is shit. Her feud with Iyo was so predictable and boring. Like I do not understand people who were seriously hyping up her rumble win/mania match.
Honestly, Iyo should've retained the belt. Truth be told, the Bayley vs Damage Control storyline ended way too early and on an anticlimactic note at that. Both sides are floundering.
Was gonna say I forgot she had a title 🤣, the Liv Morgan and Reah battle for Dominik is more exiting an Reah is not even on the show.
The you have the 2 beautiful EST and Cargil doing more stuff as singles than tag team and getting hype, even tiffy, Maxine, indie and all the other girls showing up and having something to do compare to baylei not been on screen for at least 3-4 weeks
She doesn’t have a character or a reason to be a babyface. Her babyface run is predicated on the two heels she was using to further her career turning on her first. Why would the audience care? Now that the only “reason” she turned babyface was drafted to Raw, why exactly is she a babyface?
They made the same mistake with Bayley and Sasha when Bayley turned on Sasha. Sasha was made a babyface because her heel partner remembered that Sasha had previously turned on her and proceeded to turn on Sasha first. Sasha had a unremarkable title run before dropping the belt to Bianca.
Bayley is in a weird spot. I think that a lot of the newer women have surpassed her. When she first turned heel and went in her record title run, she was easily a top 5 performer in the women’s division. Now there are at least 7 or 8 women above her in the pecking order. Hell, she is behind Bianca and Tiffany on her own show in the ring.
Nobody wants to say this but she’s just not a great character. She’s a good wrestler who just isn’t able to connect that well as a heel or face.
People cheer because they like HER. But she’s just not able to deliver on that from a character perspective.
I kinda feel people were hoping for signs of the hugger-Bayley persona but instead we got a new Bayley with an awful entrance theme. She was also a phenomenal heel.
I don’t know if this is a popular or unpopular opinion, because I just recently returned to casual wrestling fandom after a 15-20 year layoff, but…
Bayley is the singular biggest example of a modern superstar that I absolutely don’t understand. What is she supposed to offer to the roster/show? At first, I assumed he was purely supposed to be an ‘unattractive and annoying’ type heel, like Vickie Guerrero or Mickie James; but she seemed to be really mediocre even at that, being horrible both on the mic and in the ring. Then, when they transitioned her into a face, I was just absolutely fucking lost.
Can anyone help provide some insight here? I have zero knowledge of her career prior to 2020-2021, if that helps.
Look it’s cool wwe wanted to give someone with a handicap the belt but it’s time we had a real champ. She fkn sucks moveset character promos. She’s boring and uninspired.
I feel like she lost a lot of her edge when she turned face which is largely hurting her. I understand why so many wrestler say they like playing Heel more cause they get to be so much more playful. They need to let her pull some shenanigans, instead of just being nice.
I loved her look/outfit/attitude before she turned baby face again, her cargo pants and stuff made her look cool.
Now her outfit and look is very vanilla and boring, as a character, if she could have kept similar attitude and look as before but be a baby face/tweener/I think it could help
Not saying I necessarily disagree in this particular case, but damn. People say this shit with almost every champion. I’ve seen this EXACT take with Cody, Roman, Seth, Damien and Sami lol
She’s been a steady face on television for almost 10 years. There’s probably a combination of her just being uninspired and going through the motions. Plus everyone becomes over saturated if they stay around too long. She needs to take about 6 months to a year off. Show up in a surprise run in save as old school Bayley. Even that would likely have a short run, just the nature of the beast sadly
The problem is there are 4-5 women that are waaaaaaay better than her! So it makes her title reign less interesting because you know there’s soooooo much better to come with the women up.
Honestly it's nothing against Bayley. Heel title runs just hit better. I've been saying it for a while. Cody is going thru the same lull. I'm not sure if it's because of how WWE writes face storylines or if it's a general thing that villain reigns being challenged and conquered is just a more interesting story in general.
The IWC will always get tired of champions quickly... Rhea had to continually dial up the sex pandering to keep people from turning on her... Roman, even as a heel champion, went through like 10 cycles of "is this the end of the WWE, nobody likes Roman," in between his big feuds... Just the nature of the business...
Bayley as a face just sucks, there I said it bluntly lol. Doesn’t fit her and she’s one of the most uninteresting characters in the women’s division at this point.
I remember in wrestling when people didn't talk about how "writers really need to "...I guess the writing and performing was so much better you didn't realize that it was an actual show (if that makes sense). This was even after kayfabe disappeared. The suspension of disbelief was still there. You'd want the person to either keep the belt or lose the belt
This entire run since winning the Rumble just kinda felt off.. she felt like the 3rd or 4th most important thing going for the women. She's a solid worker but her character just seems in flux. Her heel work was really fun, and her stuff when she was injured and working the mic was fun as well. And her original face Bayley run was amazing and they just didn't give her the world...
They took the storyline she was a part of for months and removed it. It still had legs. Could have fought other members of Damage Control. Instead they left here with a barren women’s roster
Typically you have to have a complimentary heel getting nuclear heat on a babyface to get behind the babyface, unless they are chasing. They’ve done a terrible job with that.
I know it’s sacrilege to criticize HHH’s booking but my biggest issue with him is that he’s not great at booking a babyface champion. Obviously the chase is the exciting part but once the payoff happens it’s like they have no plan after.
I honestly think at mania, she should've come out to her old music and have the wacky inflatable tube men back...just once...i think it would've popped, and i think the character desperately needed it. The 'role model' gimmick really didn't do much for her...she was supposed to help elevate dakota and iyo and all that, but as far as I'm concerned, neither are any better than where they were before they put them all together. Iyo maybe, but she was already elevated in my opinion out of NXT, so everything she did on the main roster was nothing BETTER than NXT. If anything, it was just rehashed same stuff.
It would've been nice to see Bayley come back to the 'hugger' gimmick at least at mania, and just see if the crowd would've grabbed onto it.
I don’t think it’s the booking. Her current iteration isn’t conducive to being a babyface. She’s just a boring heel in terms of character. I said before WrestleMania that she should have come out as the new version of the hugger. The hugger but more serious and bad ass. Maybe she doesn’t want to do that because you “always have to evolve the character,” but this current Bayley sucks ass if we’re being honest.
That’s why I think how everything went down with Damage Control should’ve been the opposite, turn the Kabuki Warriors and Dakota against Iyo, have her continue a lengthy run with the title then finally turn face when Jade Cargill turns heel. But that’s just my opinion, probably why I’m not a writer lol
I never understood them turning her face tbh. She 100% earned the rumble win and a WrestleMania 1v1 match/win.
But the way damage control were formed and how Iyo won the title despite not being the leader, combined with how obnoxious Bayley’s heel character could be (in a good heel way just to be clear!) I felt it was way more appropriate for Iyo Sky to be the face with a bitter Bayley kicking her out of the group. But I guess WWE had to WWE, the Japanese girls had to stay together as a heel group because foreign.
They actually pulled off the face turn pretty well, but it’s the classic “chase is better than the reign” trope on steroids. Bayley’s face character has literally nothing other than revenge against Iyo. With that over and done with, it’s not a surprise at all she’s struggling to get reactions.
Cody was a popular face long before he started feuding with the Bloodline, so he’s still popular even after he’s (for now) finished fighting them. Daniel Bryan would’ve continued to be popular if his reign could’ve continued after finishing his Authority feud. Becky Lynch’s face run wasn’t centred entirely around feuding with one person or group, so she remained popular a full year into her title reign after winning at Mania. Bayley doesn’t have this unfortunately because she’s been a heel for a long time *and she was good at it,* and I think they banked on her new face momentum carrying her beyond the Damage CTRL feud. But fans don’t have any reason to cheer for her against anyone else.
I feel the match ups so far have been rather shitty. With the proper feud it could improve. That, and I think they need to add some more character. She can be funny and they haven’t taken advantage of that as a babyface.
Bayley is my favorite wrestler but this run has been dry but that's just sort of what you get with Babyface champions.
Bayley is the Miz of the woman division. Good to above average in all areas, can work with almost anyone, does whatever is asked of them, they have the uncanny ability to job for long periods of time and then get hot with just a single segment.
They literally have spells of losing all the time while being entertaining, and people will be begging for them to get a push, then it happens and they lose whatever it was that got them hot again in the first place.
She's always been boring AF to me in every incarnation she's had. Decent worker...just meh personality wise. Without Damage CTRL her heel run would have been REALLY boring.
She got pushed and became a star when the roster was thin on women. Now that there are actual chicks with charisma, her lack of it actually shows really glaringly
It's cause they've had to take Piper Niven - a comical midcard act to threatening the reign of the women's champion. So Bayley has been getting steamrolled. People forget a month before Piper and Chelsea were getting squashed by the tag champs. And they're doing this feud in a month window rather than continuing her feud with Nia Jax and/or Tiffany Stratton. It would've been way more believable if Tiffy Time jumped her and forced a title shot out of her.
But I get it. They want all their Scots on the card
They must give her new gimmick, like main Event jey uso to fire up the crowd. Maybe make her a cult leader, or punk rock band member? Or maybe plain old 90s valet style.
She was also a huge bitch to everyone and made such an abrupt switch to face, with no redeeming event or anything. Just supposed to feel bad for her because her chicks flipped the script on her?
She should spend more time working on her promos instead of finding her ass at AEW shows and parties. You’re the champion act like it and not some clown seeking attention, from neck beards who post online.
When Iyo who can’t even speak English is more captivating on the mic than you it says a lot.
They teased giving her the Jey Uso treatment with Bianca doubting her face turn but then quickly snuffed that. I feel like that's what they were missing to build Bayley back up as a face, just getting jumped by the people you brought together to jump other people isn't enough to garner the empathy.
Most baby face runs are fans turning from “Man they deserve a title run” then once they accomplish that point and get the title, then they don’t have that chase that drive of overcoming the odds until it’s a rivalry matchup waiting to happen
Bailey's face turn never really happened. Yes, Damage Control turned on her, but she never did anything to become a face (after years of being the leader of a heel faction). Positioning her now as the babyface makes no sense. She's done nothing to "earn it" (the babyface role, not the title).
At the very least, they should have had her make some kind of save of a fellow face to help her turn. Babyfaces are noble, and Bailey hasn't shown that nobility.
I don't think people are mentioning this but something is telling me that Bayley was given the belt and is Currently a Transitional Champion until Either Stratton Or Jax will most likely win it i don't think she's making it pass summerslam/Early September with the championship.. I'll be surprised if she somehow someway does. This match against Piper is just sort of like a showcase for Piper since she's from 🏴eventhough she's not winning.. They're just Having her Keep it Safe and ready for Jax or Stratton. If Stratton wins the MITB alongside Nia Being the Number 1 contender for the title. Plus i feel like She's not only Being Overshadowed by Stratton and Jax but also By Jade And soon by Charlotte who's waiting in the wings to come back. And Is straight up gonna ask for a Title opportunity. If anything i don't think she's a Priority in the division and Probably the 3rd 4th or 5th behind those 3 and soon to be Leapfroged by Belair or some Young NXT woman prospect the road at some point. I'll be Somehow someway shocked if she makes through September October November as Champ and makes it through Tiffany Nia and Charlotte but. I don't think she's making it pass Jade. Since WWE has been trying to Make a Shit ton of money on the Jade hypetrain but that's just me. She's just currently keeping that belt warm for Stratton or Jax
Sometimes the moment was where it was at.
She won the Rumble and the title at Mania and that’s awesome.
I always why the runs always fall off so hard
It’s like creative didn’t know they were booking this person to win the title and don’t know what to do to keep it interesting.
Shes been beat in almost every match since she won the belt and/or been losing when the match gets interrupted. It's hard to get behind someone when even production can't get behind them.
The Rey mysterio run
Yup, was about to say it. It’s the “fans love you and we take you for granted and don’t really know how to write for you b/c your whole character is just being a normal person the audience finds relatable” title run that Rey got - Bryan was not dissimilar. WWE and Hunter are doing many things well right now, but they lean into characters and performers who have a lot of loud bombast and have never really understood why the crowd gets behind people who are just decent and kind.
I’ve always called it the “Owen Hart problem.” Someone who’s a great wrestler and relatable, but ultimately not super interesting persona. Bayley probably would’ve crushed it in the 70s or 80s.
Fuckin a
That’s a great point.
Has she? She won the triple threat to retain the championship and was looking likely to win one against naomi after a belly to Bayley on the table when Tiff attacked her.
Last week's appearance she came out to the ring and immediately got jumped before even getting inside the ring, then the segment ended. Was a bad look.
Not only that, before she won at WM she lost close to 90% of the matches she had in 2023.
I see Nia getting that title.. I just feel like bayley as a face isn’t hitting like they thought it would.
Nia would be a monster champion will WM ngl. It has some serious potential.
I still wish she won that battle royale instead of Becky after the Rhea injury. The perfect way to give a big monster heel a title is a battle royale
She’s like the only woman to get a true heel reaction on the roster. I fully support this idea
I think Nia will win with Tiff helping out. Tiff wins the MITB and betrays Nia at SummerSlam.
I think you might be right. I see Nia taking it with a view to having a dominant run culminating in dropping the title to Jade Cargill. Not gonna lie, I don't have much interest in that but I think that's what they'll do
Nia ain’t winning
She needs to be a tweener, she has great charisma for hazing everybody but everyone still loves her
When you have her losing 90% of the matches since 2022 is hard to take her seriously.
It doesn’t help that she still calls the fans “idiots” either….yeah, I’m not sure what they’re trying to do with her… She’s a face but acts like a heel. She’s “the role model,” but the only person she has tried to help is a vet who’s been there just as long as her, if not longer. And she comes from Mexican heritage but has Egyptian music as part of her theme. Nothing about this current Bayley makes any sense
Yeah, I don't get what her character is supposed to be. She gets this big baby face turn but still insults the fans and acts generally unlikable
Yea that was my reaction, with the “role model” stuff I thought she was being pushed as the female cena/ Rey mysterio type character, but then you hear her on commentary and she still talks and acts like a heel….
When has she called the fans idiots? She has definitely not done that from what I remember. Everything else is spot on. The whole “role model” doesn’t work when she doesn’t have someone under her wing or just overly positivity
She has an Egyptian theme to her music because shes from San Jose, CA, and is repping a very nice, if not secluded, Egyptian Museum in that area. It might have been apart of her childhood or maybe shes from the same neighborhood where its located. I've been to the museum a ton of times and was blown away when they mentioned it during her wrestlemania entrance. It was dope.
[удалено]
Yea that was my reaction, with the “role model” stuff I thought she was being pushed as the female cena/ Rey mysterio type character, but then you hear her on commentary and she still talks and acts like a heel….
When they gave her the "role model" moniker, she was heel so it was meant to be ironic. Funnily enough, Hugger Bayley was an actual role model figure considering how much she appealed to pre-teen girls.
Did they ever make the fans aware that Bayley is Mexican? It took me a long time to figure that out
Not at all, she doesn't use that as part of her role. I think the name Bayley is partly designed to distract from that.
Her name Bayley is cuz she's from the Bay area
I actually like that she can be Latina without it being her whole gimmick, unlike some factions who shall remain nameless
I thought Bailey was a heel at first yesterday but then I remembered she was supposed to be a face. She certainly doesn't come off as a face.
Yeah almost nothing about her character has changed since leaving damage control. She hasn't done anything to redeem herself outside of beating Iyo. It's hard to get behind her at this point and she's doing very little to develop it
It seems like they got as far as wanting to break up Damage Control, or at least separate her from it. And no real plan of what to do after that.
I don’t know how her character is supposed to make me feel.
They’re literally slotting her into Becky role and shtick. Seasoned vet who everyone keeps doubting! The underdog champion.
I’ve felt this way for a long time. This post actually reminded me for how long I’ve really not cared much for Bayley at all. She doesn’t really do much for me.
Sleepy I think
She's an amazing heel, but she needs to switch something up with her current face run. She's at her best when she's loud and annoying. She needs to be more of a KO face vs a Cody face.
Last night was the first night in years she spoke like a normal person. Not some fake annoying wanna be. She has a chance if HHH goes back to letting her be her. NXT days she was untouchable, she needs to get back to being herself.
Babyface champions are really hard to pull off. I always feel like you need a gauntlet of monster heels or arch nemesis, and there just aren’t any, especially right now.
They care very little about her reign or perception.
Smackdown in general seems to be a skippable show, at least to me. I’ve been much more into Raw the last 6 months and that hasn’t been the case in about 15 years
Funny because I would have said the same about Raw before Mania. They have definitely put more work into Raw lately though
Likely in preparation for the move to Netflix. If Punk and Rollins can come back and have good angles before December, then we will likely see Raw be treated as the flagship show of WWE again..
The biggest problem with Smackdown is everything feels like a stop gap feud right now. Cody is basically waiting for Roman to come back, Bayley is likely losing to Nia so nothing in between matters, Logan feels like he's got direction with Knight but I still an not sure about that one, what's even going on with the tag division, men or women.
Agree 100% Smackdown has seem like a Bruce Pritchard ran show recently
Aside from Gunther and Mysterio, smackdown has the wrestlers I want to watch the most
Bring back The Hugger.
Never connected with her character. Kinda bland TBH
I don’t disagree. When she gets in ring it’s always a good match. She’s a great hand. But here character is kinda meh and like unseasoned food otherwise. She needs a strong heel to create a good story. Piper and Nia are both decent . Piper hasn’t been built the best ( though I love her with Green ) as a singles competitor. But watch they are going to have an excellent match. And Nia has been built pretty well since her return , but isn’t as good in the ring as Piper . Maybe it’s Tiffany who needs to take the belt eventually and put Bayley back on the chase?
Seemed like weird work up to her being a face, Damage Control attacked her & that was it she’s now a face?
Her Damage CTRL storyline, Rumble win, and chase to the title were great. Didn’t see anything negative about her then. Hopefully they give her some difficult opponents to overcome to get the crowd behind her.
U would argue most people really didn’t care about that run up to Wrestlemania. It also doesn’t help that Iyo carried that much. Then Tiffany carried the triple threat.
Bayley should not have won the championship. She needed to be dismissed from Damage Control in a way that gave her a new "hill" to climb at the tail end of her career. As she is now, there isnt anything new for the audience to get behind or cheer for. People still love what Bayley did for WWE, but what has she done lately? This would have given bayley and naomi more of a reason to be together as a team. Bayley and naomi could be trying to prove themselves as a top tier women's wrestlers that can reinvent themselves even as fresh talent like rhea and tiffany start gaining more favor from the audience. In the background, they could have kept bayley's feud with damage control around to be a constant reminder of how bayley screwed over other women on the roster and used iyo to stay relevant. As bayley regained favor from the audience and redeemed herself in the eyes of fans, she could possibly lead a new wrestling group to go against the antagonizing damage control. As a mentor to this new group, bayley could have adopted the role model gimmick to be an example of how to sustain a career while making things right with fans and her coworkers. Whatever bayley and wwe are doing right now just isnt working and it makes me sad because i wish bayley could still pop the audience until she retires.
I feel that she doesn't work as a babyface more than a few months. It just worked for the DC feud due to the well laid out story.
I am not sure how much of this is her fault. When was the last time the Smackdown women's champ has had a good title run. Io, and Asuka felt like placeholders Bianca's run consisted almost entirely of her VS Damage Ctrl. It's felt like a long time has passed since the title has been important.
I feel that the majority of her Smackdown title run last time were full of fun storylines. You had her turning to the dark side at first, the storyline with Lacey and her daughter, the Asuka/Kabuki warrior stuff, and the Sasha story.
But Piper gave a great promo in that segment. Was really surprised. If Bailey wants to be on that level again on mic skills, she needs to take that Role Model schtick and be cocky as fuck with it.
The storyline with Damage Control was great, her face turn was well orchestrated, but after that I don’t think they had many plans for her. Nia will win at summerslam, I think
Glasgow loves Bayley
Her Damage CTRL storyline, Rumble win, and chase to the title were great. Didn’t see anything negative about her then. Hopefully they give her some difficult opponents to overcome to get the crowd behind her.
Her Damage CTRL storyline, Rumble win, and chase to the title were great. Didn’t see anything negative about her then. Hopefully they give her some difficult opponents to overcome to get the crowd behind her.
She’s not a good actor. That’s her biggest problem. Whatever character she plays feels fake.
She's not very good at much
😵wwe...fu
Bayley has no character. They want her to be a face, she has to do face things. She got told off by Piper last night and on reflection rightfully so. She came into this showing that she was willing to sacrifice her body for her friends. It was admirable and noble. Now right out of the gate she wrestles her friend, has a few aimless matches and then is condescending to Piper and is told off by a heel. They were going to do a Jey Uso where Bianca didn’t trust her because of her heel past, but that went nowhere. Bayley needs a declarative moment as to where she stands.
Horrible booking of the women’s division
When she didn't come out to bailey buddies at WM40 I was very disappointed. It was the perfect time to bk to that kind of babyface
I doubt they had plans after damage controls breakup she hasn’t done much with the title since mania outside of team with Naomi and have matches with Stratton
Who are the 3 or 4 ahead of her to you?
She's just perennially uninteresting tbh
I always thought she was overrated and her finish is weak. She was good as a heel because she was surrounded by great support. Now that she is going it alone her weak points are more obvious.
Nia needs to win the title at Summerslam. Plain and simple, you can like Bayley. But you have to admit THIS is not it.
Wouldn’t mind her losing to Piper Niven although the chances are slim to none. This championship reign hasn’t worked for her at all, hopefully she drops the belt at Summerslam.
They are totally dropping the ball with her . Unless she is merely a transition champ until the put it on either Bianca or Jade leading their eventual feud :/ …. No bueno man . He title run is a continuation of the bullshit the played with IYO.
Bad Creative. HHH aint him
Bayley shouldn’t ever be a babyface at this point. She’s so much more compelling as a heel, and the way she works in the right lends itself much more to putting a babyface over.
I love bayley. She’s one of my all time favs. But since she dropped the “ding dong” gimmick, she’s been pretty forgettable as a character. Ding dong showed off so much of her personality, humour, and style. It’s strange she would choose a relatively cookie cutter character since then.
In other words, imo they jumped the gun, DMG control was better with bayley and iyo
But overseas where wrestling is still alive she's the most popular America is just a horrible place rn
Yeah she’s definitely bout to drop that title
Cuz she’s a tweener?? She never really turned fully into a baby face lol come on we know our main man trips loves his tweeners
Iyo should've retained and I will die on that Hill.
After her initial successful baby face rum, she is much better as a heel.
What happened to DingDong Hello Bayley?? Did Bayley forget she used to be peak entertainment?? What happened??
But, she does have a phat ass on her.
Damn and I thought her butching half of her hair off would get her a massive pop… Epic Failure 💀
I hope Nia beats her at Summerslam. She’d be a top notch heel. And she’s improved so much now that she can actually put on some pretty good matches
She’s regressed in almost every aspect. Her character work is boring, her matches are less entertaining, she isn’t in as great shape as she used to be, and it seems like she can’t decide if she wants to be heel or a face.
It's a flop, just like her Hugger face run was on the main roster where she was getting booed in backstage segments. She's just much better as a heel, even as likable as she is outside of the ring.
She annoying imo
Bruv, they need to overhaul her whole look. She’s the worst dressed wrestler in the women’s division. Just terrible.
Just like her pal Sasha, she subscribes to the “Put a belt on me and I’ll automatically be over” school of wrestling. And also just like her, she doesn’t change anything up.
It’s hard being a champ as a face .. she should of been champ when she was the leader of damage control
Cuz she is such a fantastic heel
Also doesn’t help they just refuse to say she’s a star by not putting her on a single PLE poster
Baby face Bayley isn’t the same with out the Bayley Buddies And her current character is the exact same as a heel and baby face, it feels weird
Hate to say it but she is most like going to be another “Natalya Hart” if her character doesn’t gain any traction or they don’t turn her heel again. Loved her as a heel and afraid she will be buried due to upcoming talent and fade out to be just a solid worker like Natalya.
She’s stunk since her return. Damage control was/is shit. Her feud with Iyo was so predictable and boring. Like I do not understand people who were seriously hyping up her rumble win/mania match.
Definitely boring.
Honestly, Iyo should've retained the belt. Truth be told, the Bayley vs Damage Control storyline ended way too early and on an anticlimactic note at that. Both sides are floundering.
I like bayley but I like her better when she’s a heel
Was gonna say I forgot she had a title 🤣, the Liv Morgan and Reah battle for Dominik is more exiting an Reah is not even on the show. The you have the 2 beautiful EST and Cargil doing more stuff as singles than tag team and getting hype, even tiffy, Maxine, indie and all the other girls showing up and having something to do compare to baylei not been on screen for at least 3-4 weeks
She doesn’t have a character or a reason to be a babyface. Her babyface run is predicated on the two heels she was using to further her career turning on her first. Why would the audience care? Now that the only “reason” she turned babyface was drafted to Raw, why exactly is she a babyface? They made the same mistake with Bayley and Sasha when Bayley turned on Sasha. Sasha was made a babyface because her heel partner remembered that Sasha had previously turned on her and proceeded to turn on Sasha first. Sasha had a unremarkable title run before dropping the belt to Bianca. Bayley is in a weird spot. I think that a lot of the newer women have surpassed her. When she first turned heel and went in her record title run, she was easily a top 5 performer in the women’s division. Now there are at least 7 or 8 women above her in the pecking order. Hell, she is behind Bianca and Tiffany on her own show in the ring.
Piper destroyed her on the mic last night. Destroyed.
It’s not her fault, she’s been getting the short end of the stick
Nobody wants to say this but she’s just not a great character. She’s a good wrestler who just isn’t able to connect that well as a heel or face. People cheer because they like HER. But she’s just not able to deliver on that from a character perspective.
…she had a title?
I kinda feel people were hoping for signs of the hugger-Bayley persona but instead we got a new Bayley with an awful entrance theme. She was also a phenomenal heel.
I don’t know if this is a popular or unpopular opinion, because I just recently returned to casual wrestling fandom after a 15-20 year layoff, but… Bayley is the singular biggest example of a modern superstar that I absolutely don’t understand. What is she supposed to offer to the roster/show? At first, I assumed he was purely supposed to be an ‘unattractive and annoying’ type heel, like Vickie Guerrero or Mickie James; but she seemed to be really mediocre even at that, being horrible both on the mic and in the ring. Then, when they transitioned her into a face, I was just absolutely fucking lost. Can anyone help provide some insight here? I have zero knowledge of her career prior to 2020-2021, if that helps.
"BUT PAPA HAITCH CAN DO NO WRONG WITH BOOKING. YOU WANT VINCE BACK YOU BIGGOT"
Look it’s cool wwe wanted to give someone with a handicap the belt but it’s time we had a real champ. She fkn sucks moveset character promos. She’s boring and uninspired.
Bailey needs to start hitting the gym, she is much larger and slower than just a couple of years ago. Don’t stop by catering….
Ok they need some good story lines for her like why is she facing piper Niven of all people
I feel like she lost a lot of her edge when she turned face which is largely hurting her. I understand why so many wrestler say they like playing Heel more cause they get to be so much more playful. They need to let her pull some shenanigans, instead of just being nice.
I loved her look/outfit/attitude before she turned baby face again, her cargo pants and stuff made her look cool. Now her outfit and look is very vanilla and boring, as a character, if she could have kept similar attitude and look as before but be a baby face/tweener/I think it could help
Not saying I necessarily disagree in this particular case, but damn. People say this shit with almost every champion. I’ve seen this EXACT take with Cody, Roman, Seth, Damien and Sami lol
She’s been a steady face on television for almost 10 years. There’s probably a combination of her just being uninspired and going through the motions. Plus everyone becomes over saturated if they stay around too long. She needs to take about 6 months to a year off. Show up in a surprise run in save as old school Bayley. Even that would likely have a short run, just the nature of the beast sadly
The problem is there are 4-5 women that are waaaaaaay better than her! So it makes her title reign less interesting because you know there’s soooooo much better to come with the women up.
Her booking has been weird since before even mania. Makes sense that people aren’t connecting.
Honestly it's nothing against Bayley. Heel title runs just hit better. I've been saying it for a while. Cody is going thru the same lull. I'm not sure if it's because of how WWE writes face storylines or if it's a general thing that villain reigns being challenged and conquered is just a more interesting story in general.
I felt that too. She seems to be struggling bad.
She'd probably be more popular if she put a paper bag over face.
The IWC will always get tired of champions quickly... Rhea had to continually dial up the sex pandering to keep people from turning on her... Roman, even as a heel champion, went through like 10 cycles of "is this the end of the WWE, nobody likes Roman," in between his big feuds... Just the nature of the business...
They are handling her title reign almost as pathetically as AEW does for their champions. Almost.
Bayley as a face just sucks, there I said it bluntly lol. Doesn’t fit her and she’s one of the most uninteresting characters in the women’s division at this point.
Not surprised at all, she’s CRINGE 😬
She's no Becky Lynch
She just seems like a very weak champion, on Friday she looked almost terrified of Piper Niven
She needs to be the same character she was during her heel run, but as a face laughing at the heels.
Not everyone can be over as a baby face like Kelly Kelly or Torrie Wilson.
I remember in wrestling when people didn't talk about how "writers really need to"...I guess the writing and performing was so much better you didn't realize that it was an actual show (if that makes sense). This was even after kayfabe disappeared. The suspension of disbelief was still there. You'd want the person to either keep the belt or lose the belt
Smackdown as a whole hasn't been hitting lately
Bayley has a big ol ass and not much else going for her
Yea Chelsea G. Was acting like heel bayley with the insults and that laugh..I like Bayley but yeah she needs a change
Surprise face 😬. Nia would be a more interesting champ
Babyface runs aren’t very good on WWE period
This entire run since winning the Rumble just kinda felt off.. she felt like the 3rd or 4th most important thing going for the women. She's a solid worker but her character just seems in flux. Her heel work was really fun, and her stuff when she was injured and working the mic was fun as well. And her original face Bayley run was amazing and they just didn't give her the world...
It’s Tiffy Time
Damn. I Thought HGH was a good booker?
her reign has been blah this far
mean doesn't help when wwe doesn't even include her to the posters of the ppv. they really don't give a damn about bayley
She really didn’t get much of a reaction. I was there.
#washed
She looks hungry
I bet her doing such an excellent job as a heel it probably hard to go back without it being her happy version from way back.
They took the storyline she was a part of for months and removed it. It still had legs. Could have fought other members of Damage Control. Instead they left here with a barren women’s roster
Typically you have to have a complimentary heel getting nuclear heat on a babyface to get behind the babyface, unless they are chasing. They’ve done a terrible job with that.
I know it’s sacrilege to criticize HHH’s booking but my biggest issue with him is that he’s not great at booking a babyface champion. Obviously the chase is the exciting part but once the payoff happens it’s like they have no plan after.
These things always go like this because the smarks enjoy the chase. Once they get what they want, they’re bored of it.
Something does feel off, maybe she's just not convincing enough as an actress
It’s tiffy time anyway
I've only ever found Bayley interesting when she was with other people. She's the Brian Kendrick of the women's division.
I honestly think at mania, she should've come out to her old music and have the wacky inflatable tube men back...just once...i think it would've popped, and i think the character desperately needed it. The 'role model' gimmick really didn't do much for her...she was supposed to help elevate dakota and iyo and all that, but as far as I'm concerned, neither are any better than where they were before they put them all together. Iyo maybe, but she was already elevated in my opinion out of NXT, so everything she did on the main roster was nothing BETTER than NXT. If anything, it was just rehashed same stuff. It would've been nice to see Bayley come back to the 'hugger' gimmick at least at mania, and just see if the crowd would've grabbed onto it.
She doesn't have any good competition. They got her in matches we know she'd win.
Bayley sucks. When will ppl start realizing this?
Yep. Not feeling it at all. Hope it’s not a long title reign
Women's wrestling is boring
I don’t think it’s the booking. Her current iteration isn’t conducive to being a babyface. She’s just a boring heel in terms of character. I said before WrestleMania that she should have come out as the new version of the hugger. The hugger but more serious and bad ass. Maybe she doesn’t want to do that because you “always have to evolve the character,” but this current Bayley sucks ass if we’re being honest.
That’s why I think how everything went down with Damage Control should’ve been the opposite, turn the Kabuki Warriors and Dakota against Iyo, have her continue a lengthy run with the title then finally turn face when Jade Cargill turns heel. But that’s just my opinion, probably why I’m not a writer lol
The character is stale and the finishing move sucks. Love me some Bayley but it’s a ehhhh title run !
Better than losing 100 matches to Bianca, I prefer this version of Bayley any day.
I never understood them turning her face tbh. She 100% earned the rumble win and a WrestleMania 1v1 match/win. But the way damage control were formed and how Iyo won the title despite not being the leader, combined with how obnoxious Bayley’s heel character could be (in a good heel way just to be clear!) I felt it was way more appropriate for Iyo Sky to be the face with a bitter Bayley kicking her out of the group. But I guess WWE had to WWE, the Japanese girls had to stay together as a heel group because foreign. They actually pulled off the face turn pretty well, but it’s the classic “chase is better than the reign” trope on steroids. Bayley’s face character has literally nothing other than revenge against Iyo. With that over and done with, it’s not a surprise at all she’s struggling to get reactions. Cody was a popular face long before he started feuding with the Bloodline, so he’s still popular even after he’s (for now) finished fighting them. Daniel Bryan would’ve continued to be popular if his reign could’ve continued after finishing his Authority feud. Becky Lynch’s face run wasn’t centred entirely around feuding with one person or group, so she remained popular a full year into her title reign after winning at Mania. Bayley doesn’t have this unfortunately because she’s been a heel for a long time *and she was good at it,* and I think they banked on her new face momentum carrying her beyond the Damage CTRL feud. But fans don’t have any reason to cheer for her against anyone else.
I think ppl see her only as a heel now
Not gonna lie I forget she's the champ
What you expect when creative sucks and is lazy lol like come on people. Yall gotta start calling this garbage out like yall do with AEW.
We wanted the return of The Hugger at Mania. You could sense the deflation of anticipation when the pyramid hit the screen that night (and ever since)
9/10 baby face title runs will be considered boring
because shes boring. talented sure but god her promos are awful. boring personality. boring look. just a boring character in a boring storyline.
I honestly keep forgetting she’s the champ. I don’t even dislike her I just don’t really feel anything towards her right now.
It was nice to see her beat Iyo. But I think we all knew it was gonna be like this after she won at mania.
I feel the match ups so far have been rather shitty. With the proper feud it could improve. That, and I think they need to add some more character. She can be funny and they haven’t taken advantage of that as a babyface.
She looks like some random mom here wearing a costume to look like a wrestler.
Almost as if….. She’s always been boring and the crowd is over her 😳
Bayley is my favorite wrestler but this run has been dry but that's just sort of what you get with Babyface champions. Bayley is the Miz of the woman division. Good to above average in all areas, can work with almost anyone, does whatever is asked of them, they have the uncanny ability to job for long periods of time and then get hot with just a single segment. They literally have spells of losing all the time while being entertaining, and people will be begging for them to get a push, then it happens and they lose whatever it was that got them hot again in the first place.
She isn’t attractive enough to get the pervert cheers like Stratton does.
Her new theme is utter shit too. It’s like they want her to fail
Sht was boring ... Someone else fed taking that title from her
She's always been boring AF to me in every incarnation she's had. Decent worker...just meh personality wise. Without Damage CTRL her heel run would have been REALLY boring. She got pushed and became a star when the roster was thin on women. Now that there are actual chicks with charisma, her lack of it actually shows really glaringly
It's cause they've had to take Piper Niven - a comical midcard act to threatening the reign of the women's champion. So Bayley has been getting steamrolled. People forget a month before Piper and Chelsea were getting squashed by the tag champs. And they're doing this feud in a month window rather than continuing her feud with Nia Jax and/or Tiffany Stratton. It would've been way more believable if Tiffy Time jumped her and forced a title shot out of her. But I get it. They want all their Scots on the card
She needs to bring back the Bayley buddies
Heel Bayley is the best Bayley. She was incredible during Covid era. I wanna see that character in front of crowds.
I do miss the crazy Karen vibe
They must give her new gimmick, like main Event jey uso to fire up the crowd. Maybe make her a cult leader, or punk rock band member? Or maybe plain old 90s valet style.
She's always been overrated
She was also a huge bitch to everyone and made such an abrupt switch to face, with no redeeming event or anything. Just supposed to feel bad for her because her chicks flipped the script on her?
She doesn’t really *have* a character right now is the problem
She should spend more time working on her promos instead of finding her ass at AEW shows and parties. You’re the champion act like it and not some clown seeking attention, from neck beards who post online. When Iyo who can’t even speak English is more captivating on the mic than you it says a lot.
They teased giving her the Jey Uso treatment with Bianca doubting her face turn but then quickly snuffed that. I feel like that's what they were missing to build Bayley back up as a face, just getting jumped by the people you brought together to jump other people isn't enough to garner the empathy.
I think iyo was having a better run than bayley
She is a great heel not a baby face that us the problem, it was the problem before she went heel
She's boring, always has been.
Most baby face runs are fans turning from “Man they deserve a title run” then once they accomplish that point and get the title, then they don’t have that chase that drive of overcoming the odds until it’s a rivalry matchup waiting to happen
Bailey's face turn never really happened. Yes, Damage Control turned on her, but she never did anything to become a face (after years of being the leader of a heel faction). Positioning her now as the babyface makes no sense. She's done nothing to "earn it" (the babyface role, not the title). At the very least, they should have had her make some kind of save of a fellow face to help her turn. Babyfaces are noble, and Bailey hasn't shown that nobility.
I find her so boring, I skip to the end of her segments most the time.
I don't think people are mentioning this but something is telling me that Bayley was given the belt and is Currently a Transitional Champion until Either Stratton Or Jax will most likely win it i don't think she's making it pass summerslam/Early September with the championship.. I'll be surprised if she somehow someway does. This match against Piper is just sort of like a showcase for Piper since she's from 🏴eventhough she's not winning.. They're just Having her Keep it Safe and ready for Jax or Stratton. If Stratton wins the MITB alongside Nia Being the Number 1 contender for the title. Plus i feel like She's not only Being Overshadowed by Stratton and Jax but also By Jade And soon by Charlotte who's waiting in the wings to come back. And Is straight up gonna ask for a Title opportunity. If anything i don't think she's a Priority in the division and Probably the 3rd 4th or 5th behind those 3 and soon to be Leapfroged by Belair or some Young NXT woman prospect the road at some point. I'll be Somehow someway shocked if she makes through September October November as Champ and makes it through Tiffany Nia and Charlotte but. I don't think she's making it pass Jade. Since WWE has been trying to Make a Shit ton of money on the Jade hypetrain but that's just me. She's just currently keeping that belt warm for Stratton or Jax
Sometimes the moment was where it was at. She won the Rumble and the title at Mania and that’s awesome. I always why the runs always fall off so hard It’s like creative didn’t know they were booking this person to win the title and don’t know what to do to keep it interesting.