It goes without saying that Bayley will be a surefire WWE Hall of Famer when she decides to retire. The four-time world champion has achieved almost every accolade that WWE has to offer, and she’s still going strong.
She caught fire in NXT as the carefree, easy-going hug life fan favorite. She reinvented herself as the villainous Role Model. And most recently, she was scheduled to team with Lyra Valkyria to take on Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez at WrestleMania 41 for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles.
This was the plan until she was replaced by a returning Becky Lynch, who would go on to aid Valkyria in a Tag Team Title win.
Bayley’s big match opportunity was seemingly stolen from her by a mysterious attacker, and while we have a pretty good idea of who did it, nothing has been confirmed.
So, what’s next for Bayley? In the storyline, she’s been sidelined. In reality, was it even necessary for her to miss WWE’s biggest show of the year?
Much like the angle itself, there hasn’t been any word on why Bayley was removed from the title match at the time of this article’s publishing. On one hand, running a business includes making tough decisions and keeping your company financially afloat. Sometimes that means you have to make moves that only make sense from a business standpoint in order to keep things running smoothly.
However, it certainly raises a few questions if she was, in fact, removed over something political.
For one, how long did WWE know about Becky Lynch returning? If it was early enough, wouldn’t it have been a better idea for Bayley to continue her rivalry with NXT Superstar Roxanne Perez and book a culmination to their feud at WrestleMania 41?
There’s yet to be a true and definitive end to their rivalry. Instead, Perez is now being used sporadically on the main roster and will probably commence feuding with her longtime frenemy for life, Cora Jade. This is, of course, following her loss to Stephanie Vaquer for the NXT Women’s Title on the latest episode of NXT.
As for Bayley’s current situation, all signs point to Becky Lynch as the attacker. Big Time Becks recently turned heel on Valkyria after losing the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.
If it’s soon revealed that the company knew of Lynch’s willingness to return months or even weeks in advance, why not just scrap having a number one contender’s match for the Tag Team Titles and jump directly into Morgan and Rodriguez getting into an altercation with Valkyria after some kind of an issue? After being outnumbered for a few weeks, Lynch finally returns at WrestleMania to even the odds, and Bayley doesn’t have to be sacrificed in the process.
Alas, reality is what reality is. Here’s hoping for a satisfying outcome to this feud. One that makes fans, wrestlers, management and critics happy.
