Bayley Was Eliminated From WWE Royal Rumble 2021 Earlier Than Intended

Bayley's WWE Royal Rumble exit reportedly happened a little earlier than planned.

by Andrew Pollard
Bayley SmackDown
WWE.com

Many were caught a little off-guard with how the elimination of Bayley from last month’s women’s Royal Rumble match was presented, and now comes an update that this elimination didn’t go down quite as it was intended.

At the Rumble, the elimination of Bayley by Bianca Belair was actually missed by the WWE production crew, and the former Hugger’s exit was only viewable thanks to a replay. Considering how Bayley is one the biggest names and most decorated stars of the present-day WWE landscape, it felt as if she’d maybe been short-changed a little here.

Courtesy of PWInsider, the original plan was for Bayley not to be eliminated quite as soon as she ultimately was. The Role Model was intended to last at least a short while longer in the Rumble match – possibly until Mickie James had formally entered the contest.

Advertisement

Over on the men’s side of things, there was similar speculation that the elimination of Rey Mysterio didn’t play out quite as it should’ve. After an awkward struggle with Omos that saw Rey eventually eliminated, some thought that there’d been somewhat of a botch there. Instead though, PWI states that the Master of the 619’s exit went as planned.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.