For nearly a year, WWE have been without perhaps one of their best overall performers in Bayley, after she suffered a long-term injury. There have been rumblings of her return, but nothing has occurred yet, and all fans can do is hope that a comeback is imminent.Over the last couple of years, Bayley has been a major player in WWE, being one of the figureheads that helped both Raw and SmackDown through the painful pandemic era of wrestling, becoming one of the highlights of programming each and every week. Her appearances on PPV were important too, though there were some ups and downs in terms of quality.
10 Vs Asuka, Clash Of Champions 2020
After successfully defending her Raw Women’s Title earlier in the night, Asuka rose to an open challenge laid out Bayley, after her initial opponent, Nikki Cross, was unable to compete. However, the match was over in just a few minutes.
A disqualification was caused, which saw Bayley retain the title in a complete let down of a match, and something which would have been better suited to Raw, given that it had a poor finish. There was no time for anything of note to happen, and it was a poor title match for a PPV.
9 Women’s Raw Vs SmackDown Match, Survivor Series 2020
By the time 2020 came around, fans really couldn’t have cared less for brand vs brand supremacy, so even in the ThunderDome, where the noises of the crowd are manufactured, this still fell entirely flat, especially when the focus was on the feud between Lana and Nia Jax.
There were still some fun moments and solid action due to the high caliber of performers in the match, with Bianca Belair given the chance to shine, but the finish made a mockery of all those involved.
8 W/ Sasha Banks Vs The IIconics Vs Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss, Backlash 2020
Given the names involved, this should have been a lot better than what it was. When Banks & Bayley held the Women’s Tag Team Titles, they felt a lot more important, and going into this match, the division was on more of a high than it had been.
This match was surprisingly quite sloppy, with a lot of awkward interactions, with it never really getting off the ground. The champions would retain, but there was a lack of real progression of anything in this match.
7 Vs Nikki Cross, Extreme Rules 2020
In the period following WrestleMania 36, Bayley and Nikki Cross wrestled several times, mostly with the SmackDown Women’s Championship on the line. Their matches were all solid, but rarely anything other than that.
Their match at Extreme Rules was fine, but unsensational, with it not stealing any headlines or excelling in any way. It would have been good for a TV main event but didn’t really feel like a PPV title match.
6 Vs Bianca Belair, WrestleMania Backlash 2021
On the back of a historic WrestleMania main event against Sasha Banks, Belair would defend her newly won SmackDown Women’s Title against Bayley, picking up their rivalry from pre-Mania, and giving Belair a big name to kickstart her reign against.
The match was very predictable, but it was still decent enough. The lack of a real audience certainly hurt matches like this from reaching a higher level, but it was still good nonetheless, outside a few sloppy moments, and the ending was a little botched.
5 W/ Sasha Banks Vs Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax, Payback 2020
On paper, this may not seem like the most exciting match, especially considering how the Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler team ended up, but this was a great tag team match for the belts, which felt fresh given that it was a brand-new challenger stepping up.
Baszler was on fire in this match, looking like the badass everyone knows she can be, as she submitted both women at the same time to win her team the Women’s Tag Titles. One issue with this, was that Baszler hasn’t looked as good since that moment, with WWE making the division stale once Bayley & Banks dropped the titles.
4 Vs Asuka, SummerSlam 2020
This was the first of two matches that Asuka had at SummerSlam 2020, with the other outshining this by some mile. However, it was still a strong way to open up the PPV, with both women showing the chemistry they had created back from working with one another in NXT.
It didn’t quite reach expectations, which is understandable considering Asuka was likely holding back with having to work twice in one night, but it did its job well of furthering the story between Bayley, Asuka, and Sasha Banks.
3 Women’s Royal Rumble, Royal Rumble 2021
Bayley was the number one entry in the Women’s Rumble in 2021, and put in a strong performance, lasting an impressive twenty-nine minutes. In the grand scheme of things, Bayley played a minor role in this match, being eliminated fairly early on by rival Bianca Belair, but it helped add to Belair’s eventful victory.
Overall, the rest of the match was very enjoyable, even if Bayley was a bit-part player, and it managed to succeed even without a live crowd present, which was certainly surreal for a Royal Rumble match. Belair came out looking like a total star in this match, with a great back and forth with Rhea Ripley at the end.
2 Vs Bianca Belair, Hell In A Cell 2021
Much like their other championship battles, the result of this match was never really in question. Having yet another rematch between the two was a little much, but their match was brilliant, full of intensity and unique spots, with the two women making the use of their surroundings.
In this day and age, the Hell in a Cell stipulation has become so overused that it is hard to truly excel, but Bayley and Belair had a great match regardless, even with the obvious winner.
1 Vs Sasha Banks, Hell In A Cell 2020
Bayley and Sasha Banks will always be destined to feud forever, but every time they face off, it feels special, and they deliver. This match may even challenge their infamous match at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, as it featured such a real brutality and emotion, even inside the ThunderDome.
The creativity was at a peak here, with the pair putting together some innovative spots. This culminated their feud which had been brewing for quite a while, and the stipulation felt warranted with their history, which is always good when it comes to a Hell in a Cell match.