10 Things We Learned From Bayley On Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions
4. The Big Image Change Almost Never Happened
By late-2019, Bayley was more-than-ready for a change. The big challenge was going to be convincing WWE's decision-makers, including Vince McMahon, that she should totally change her image. Remarkably, that wasn't in the promotion's plans until Bayley herself brought it up.
After dropping the SmackDown Women's Title to Charlotte Flair at HIAC 2019, she was going to return on SmackDown as pretty much the same 'Huggable' character. WWE were going to put a twist on things because she was heel, but they weren't actually going to change her overall presentation.
Bayley pleaded with them to reconsider and let her cut away all the things fans closely associated with the babyface run. In the days between HIAC and SmackDown's second show on FOX, she was able to put forward her plan and talk the company into it.
She viewed it as a “last ditch effort to save [her] career”.