With WrestleMania XL now in the history books, Bayley is your new WWE Women's Champion.
In the second-to-last match on 'Mania XL Night 2, the Role Model toppled her former Damage CTRL pal IYO SKY to take home the top women's prize from the SmackDown brand.
A fantastic contest, Bayley picked up the win in about 15 minutes, eventually hitting her Rose Plant finish to get the 1-2-3. Earlier, IYO had sensationally countered this move with a jaw-dropping flip-out, and the Genius of the Sky also managed to hit her opponent with a couple of her patented moonsaults - all to no avail.
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The wider story of the match saw Bayley suffer an early kayfabe knee injury, with IYO spending the bulk of the bout targeting that wounded limb. It's also worth noting that SKY went it alone against her one-time mentor, with Asuka, Kairi Sane, and Dakota Kai initially coming out for IYO's entrance before then heading to the back, where they'd remain for the duration of the match.
And for those wondering, no, there was no return for the Bayley Buddies or her old theme, and there was no Paramore. However, Bayley did get a new entrance theme which, on a first outing, sounded pretty darn decent. More importantly, that entrance theme will now find itself attached to the new WWE Women's Champion.
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.
