Bayley feels she ‘lost a genuine connection with fans’ after WWE heel turn
During a recent interview with The Pro Wrestling Experience, Bayley reflected on her WWE heel turn.
In 2019, Bayely cut off her side ponytail, destroyed the inflatable tube men that had been a stable of her ring entrance for years, and debuted a more serious persona. The “hugger” character she’d been portraying since 2013 was gone.
Bayley feels as though she lost a genuine connection with fans when she turned heel, but believes it was necessary for her career.
Bayley said:
“When I became a bad guy, I felt like I lost a genuine connection with fans. It was like they don’t know how they feel about me or whether they still want to like me or what it was. It was a genuine disconnection. Sometimes I still think about like, man, I wonder if I never would have done that, where I would be now, or if I would be better or if I would be worse off.”
“But then I think about times like during the pandemic. I don’t know if that character would have been able to last through the pandemic and have the type of success that I did then. I always credit them allowing me to have that moment and them allowing me to explore my growth because I didn’t feel that what I was doing at the time was going to extend my career any longer. I knew I needed to turn that page and just make something different happen.”
“As a fan, I wanted to do everything—I wanted to be a bad guy, I want to be a good guy, I want to get married on WWE, I want to have all the crazy storylines. That was the first taste of doing something different for myself. I catered to a lot of fans coming in, but that was something I felt I needed for my career. I don’t regret that at all.”
Bayley turned babyface again during her program with Damage CTRL leading up to WWE WrestleMania 41. Currently, she is looking to become the first-ever WWE Women’s United States Championship. Bayley advanced to the semifinals of a torunament to crown the first title holder when she pinned Candice Lerae in a three way match that also involved B-Fab on Friday’s SmackDown.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has appeared in award-winning publications such as NOW Magazine and The Huffington Post. He joined the F4WOnline team in 2019 and was named managing editor in the summer of 2026. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ian has covered professional wrestling for more than 15 years.