10 Live Observations From Glasgow's WWE TV Tapings

1. It's Bayley!

The New Day Enzo Amore Big Cass R Truth Goldust
WWE.com

It's become almost fashionable to want to be in a good crowd more than just being a good crowd these days. 'This is Awesome' has become a law unto itself, and a common accusation thrown at wrestling audiences is the want to 'get themselves over' rather than cheer or boo superstars. So it was no surprise to see the first wave of Twitter videos and messages that did the rounds after that Woman's segment on Raw.

But silly claims of 'hijacking' the segment aside, Glasgow helped create a truly wonderful moment, within which one of the top babyfaces on the show received the biggest and most sustained babyface reaction on the show. It shows how divisive in nature wrestling fans have become that this can be considered a bad thing somehow, but in person and watching again on television, the sheer joy that ran throughout the endless renditions of 'Hey Bayley' were something special to behold. As was shown pretty much from her title win at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn up until now, they have something very special indeed with Bayley, and whilst analysing the booking of her character week on week is likely to occasionally give cause for concern, this was the latest significant showing from a crowd since her official call up that she is the champion-elect of the division, and a legitimate breakout star in the making.

You'll often hear older wrestlers (mainly stars from either the late 80s or the late 90s) say in interviews that 'when you're over, you're over' as if to imply that after a certain point fans will love/hate you and ultimately, stick with you forever. Bayley is on the verge of that at such an early stage in a burgeoning career, and the Glasgow crowd got to write the latest exciting chapter in her gripping ascension.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett