After spending the first seven years of her WWE career as a babyface, Bayley pulled off a stunning and unexpected heel turn on the Sept. 2 episode of Monday Night Raw.
Bayley's friend and tag team partner, Sasha Banks, turned heel for the first time on the main roster three weeks earlier by attacking Natalya. On the Sept. 2 episode, Bayley helped Banks attack Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch.
A month later, on the Oct. 11 episode of SmackDown Live, Bayley introduced her new heel persona. She destroyed the giant "Bayley Buddies" inflatables that accompanied Bayley during her entrances, thus cementing the heel turn.
Over the past year, Bayley has been one of WWE's marquee heels and main event stars. For a while, a transition to heel felt impossible, given her strong popularity with the fans.
In this day and age, WWE tends to stay away from the idea of turning a main event babyface into a heel. But for Bayley, it was an easy decision to try something new.
During an interview on the Pro Wrestling Illustrated podcast (h/t WrestlingNews.co), Bayley noted that some people had doubts about her ability to work as a heel. But she was intrigued by the idea of trying a different character, and the doubters served as motivation for her.
"Everyone second-guessed things, especially for me because I was doing that Bayley character for 7 years and it brought me so much success," Bayley said. "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. 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's safe to say that Vince McMahon and WWE officials are happy with Bayley's decision. She has flourished as the face of the women's division on SmackDown Live, having recently hit the one-year mark (Oct. 11) as SmackDown Women's Champion.
Bayley is now set to defend the title against Banks, whom she attacked and betrayed during the Sept. 4 episode of SmackDown, at Sunday's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
An Example Of Why WWE Needs To Try New Things
In recent years, WWE has been heavily criticized for refusing to try new ideas. But turning Bayley heel was one of the company's best moves in recent memory. She knew it was important to eventually change up the character, and WWE can't have any regrets about it. This is a prime example of why the company needs to try new things every now and then.