SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley definitely hit the reset button on her character when she turned heel, and it was a welcome change for the one-time popular babyface. Her run on the main roster never worked as well on the main roster as it did in NXT, but as a heel, Bayley has been on top form.
During a recent interview on the PWI podcast, Bayley opened up about being ranked the #1 female wrestler in the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, and elaborated on her shocking heel turn.
"Everyone second-guessed things, especially for me because I was doing that Bayley character for 7 years and it brought me so much success," she explained. "It brought me championships and brought me to the WWE, but it was not something I wanted to do forever. I want to experience everything in my career. I want to ride the wave and do all sorts of things."
"I knew I couldn’t do it being that one character. Honestly, once I had the company’s blessing and Vince’s blessing, I knew I had to make it work. I had to make it work because it was my decision," Bayley continued. "If I failed then I failed myself and I failed the company. I definitely think people not believing in me helps because you love to prove people wrong. It helps on screen as well because then I’m not doing it for them, I’m doing it for me."
It has been great seeing things work out for Bayley, and her current rivalry with Sasha Banks has been generating plenty of headlines as of late. With Hell in a Cell looming and Banks now something of a fan-favourite, it will be interesting seeing what comes next for the current SmackDown Women's Champion.