Early Life
Pamela Rose Martinez was born on June 15, 1989, in San Jose, California. While in high school, she was the captain of her school’s basketball team. She also ran track and field and practiced martial arts.
Martinez is a lifelong wrestling fan. She started attending independent wrestling shows at 11 years old in addition to watching WWF at home. Her favorite wrestlers growing up were Eddie Guerrero, Randy Savage, and Bret Hart.
Independent Wrestling Career
At 18 years old, Martinez started training to be a professional wrestler with Big Time Wrestling in Northern California. She had her debut match in September 2008 and began going by the ring name Davina Rose.
A few years into her pro wrestling career, Davina began to branch out and perform for promotions across the American independent circuit. She made her debut for Shimmer Women Athletes in October 2011. While she wasn’t able to capture any title as an independent wrestler, she caught the attention of recruiters in WWE.
The Hugger In NXT
Martinez signed with WWE in December 2012 and made her NXT debut at a house show the following month, under a luchador mask. On March 20, she adopted the ring name Bayley and made her NXT televised debut.
The first iteration of Bayley we saw in WWE was a fan-girly babyface. Her kindness (and her naivete) made her an easy target for heels. However, with the fans firmly behind her, Bayley was able to rise to the top of the mountain in the women’s division.
On August 22, 2015, at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, Bayley challenged Sasha Banks for the NXT Women’s Championship. The match was an instant classic and to this day is widely regarded as one of the best WWE women’s matches of all time. Bayley came away from the bout victorious, marking the first title win of her pro wrestling career.
Bayley On The Main Roster
Bayley was the last of the Four Horsewomen to make her main roster debut; she did so at Battleground, on July 24, 2015. Bayley’s first feud on the main roster was against the current Raw Women’s Champion, Charlotte Flair. After a months-long journey, Bayley dethroned Charlotte on February 13, 2016.
Bayley’s reign as Raw Women’s Champion lasted 76 days and was ended by Alexa Bliss. The two went on to have an interesting feud, but Bayley was ultimately unable to regain the title.
For the next several months, Bayley’s friendship and rivalry with Sasha Banks became a major aspect of her storylines. The two worked as allies, but would continuously argue and fall out with each other. In July 2018, the two put their differences aside and formed The Boss n’ Hug Connection. The following February at Elimination Chamber, Sasha and Bayley became the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Heel Turn
In April 2019, Bayley was separated from Sasha when she was drafted to Smackdown. She went on to win that year’s Money in the Bank ladder match and successfully cashed in on Charlotte Flair to become Smackdown Women’s Champion.
During her consequent feud with Flair, Bayley lost the title turned heel for the first time in her WWE career. It was this heel turn that enabled her to regain the Smackdown Women’s Championship and become one of the most dominant women’s champs in WWE history. She also reunited with Sasha Banks and the two of them enjoyed a second reign as Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Bayley and Sasha had a major falling out when Sasha turned face; Sasha would go on to defeat Bayley for the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
At Summerslam 2022, Bayley formed the faction Damage CTRl alongside Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky.
