25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2025

19. The Bayley Nervous Breakdown Character Reveals Itself

WWE Raw Bayley Lyra Valkyria
WWE

In one of the stupider WWE plot developments since Vince McMahon resigned in disgrace in 2022, Bayley's failure to help Lyra Valkyria win back the Intercontinental Championship from Becky Lynch coinciding with a personal losing streak resulted in the 'Role Model' experiencing a serious and visible case of split personality disorder. This was communicated by a video package in which we could all hear the warring voices in her head, but the rest of the roster - including concerned friend Valkyria - couldn't.

When Bayley's scattershot behaviour made it to arenas, Lyra was at least the one to flag it up with Adam Pearce. But he didn't care, really, as he tends not to when females on the roster are booked to express their concerns to him. Meanwhile, the former Intercontinental Champion found herself on the wrong end of the 'Role Model's acid tongue just to be embraced minutes later by the 'Hugger. 

Everybody could see what was happening now...so the script flipped and Valkyria herself was the one who was randomly confused again. Breaking fourth walls and rules alike, the story was a reminder of the quality bar gradually rising over the years - even in the cartoon world of WWE, these two felt like animated characters just waiting for a weekly reset. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, 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