50 Best Wrestlers Of The 2020s (So Far)
46. Bayley
By 2020, Bayley was no longer the hugging hero of children everywhere in NXT nor the bastardised version of it that Vince McMahon irreversibly warped on the main roster. Instead, she was something more essential - a lynchpin of a otherwise-slumping company amidst unprecedentedly terrible times.
When the pandemic forced WWE into silence, Bayley filled the void with noise. Her heel run alongside Sasha Banks in the Performance Center/Thunderdome era was inspired. With prior in-ring excellence not as much of a regular requirement, the volume, the venom and the constant chatter made empty arenas feel like stages rather than made-for-TV caves. Rather than wrestling in a vacuum, Bayley was attempting to revive show that had lost its pulse. Her SmackDown Women’s Title reign became the key feature of interest on the blue brand, with the 'Role Model' positioning herself as the MVP in the process. She elevated everyone around her, from work against Asuka and Io Shirai to her inevitable and inevitably unforgettable feud with Banks that peaked inside Hell in a Cell at the titular show in September. Her commitment to the character was relentless, and it mattered because so little else did during those months.
Longterm injury hitting literally weeks before crowds returned was thus particularly cruel, but by the time she returned, the landscape of the company had completely changed. Arriving unannounced at SummerSlam 2002 following Bianca Belair's win over Becky Lynch (and the latter's subsequent babyface turn), Bayley brought with her Dakota Kai and the renamed Iyo Sky in an effort to play up to her veteran savvy. In a division constantly searching for structure, this was an attempt to lay down some solid foundations.
Results were as mixed as her success between the ropes, but faith in the future remains high thanks to the achievements of the past. A surefire Hall-Of-Famer, Bayley is simply too valuable and experienced to permanently rule out a full return to form.