WWE Besmirches Bayley’s Credibility With “This is Your Life” Segment

WWE’s constant focus on Bayley’s background and character to cut her down are wearing awfully thin on her integrity as a performer.

Ever since she started becoming more and more popular down in NXT, the Bayley character has remained the same. She stands as a friendly, lovable person with a great deal of respect for the industry, and a distinct fondness for hugs.

If you were to look close enough, you’d surely find that Bayley’s DNA is made up of three things; sugar, spice and everything nice. As such, she’s become the de facto role model to all young girls who watch WWE, and for good reason.

When you get down into it, Bayley encourages young fans to pursue their dreams and to always persevere, regardless of the obstacle. That kind of character will always be valuable to the WWE, with guys like John Cena acting as a living example of the company turning that sort of gimmick into a money-making machine.

Naturally, a good hero is nothing without an even better villain, and Bayley has had a plethora of decent heels to work off of during her WWE career.

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Her feud with Sasha Banks in NXT remains as some of her very best work, with two showstoppers between the two at TakeOver events in 2015.

With Bayley, the obvious thing for heels to work on is what makes her so lovable. Her passion for wrestling and the fact that she’s living her dream is often a target for those looking to get in her head, but after hearing those particular quips so many times, it’s getting to a point where it could be doing far more harm than good.

If you’ll recall back to Bayley’s Raw Women’s Championship rivalry and subsequent victory against Charlotte earlier this year, you’ll remember a number of occasions in which Charlotte likened Bayley to a child; someone who doesn’t belong in the ring.

It’s the same tactic used to belittle Daniel Bryan back in his day. His status as a lifelong fan was often used against him during his rise to the top.

For Bayley, the story was one in the same, before she would dethrone “The Queen” prior to WWE Fastlane and defeat Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Nia Jax at WrestleMania in order to create a once-in-a-lifetime ‘Mania debut for herself.

Now, most people thought WWE’s decision to have Bayley win the title ahead of time was a poor choice, but if you take into account that they didn’t want her WrestleMania victory to look like a fluke, it’s a lot easier to forgive.

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Which is why her current feud with new Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss is growing so insufferable. This week, on the go-home episode of Monday Night Raw ahead of their Kendo Stick-on-a-Pole rematch at WWE Extreme Rules on Sunday, Alexa Bliss hosted a “this is your life” segment for Bayley.

Similar to the original segment between The Rock and Mankind oh so many years ago, Bliss had a bunch of “names from Bayley’s past” in the ring.

As expected, these plants all made Bayley look like a joke; ridiculing her for her attachment to her father as a child, her constant preference to stay at home and watch Monday Night Raw as opposed to hanging out with friends, and apparently how her boyfriend was only going out with her so he could move in on her best friend.

Riveting television, eh?

It’s not abnormal for a heel to make stuff up in order to get in an opponent’s head before a big match, but in this particular case it feels like all of the work done to prove Charlotte wrong at WrestleMania is being undone by Alexa Bliss’ promos.

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Again, the last time someone ran down Bayley for her personal life she ended up leaving WrestleMania with her arm raised in victory. That’s where this should’ve ended. WWE proved that Bayley belonged in the ring in Orlando in April, and any further attempts to rail on her for her character quirks feels like lazy writing, and only serves to undermine all of her achievements both on the main roster and on NXT.

The problem is that Alexa Bliss now heads into her first title defense on Sunday with seemingly no intentions of dropping the strap so soon into her reign.

Hypothetically, if Bayley was to win, it would regain a little bit of the integrity she’s lost lately. But it’s fairly likely that Bliss will be walking out with the gold, which forces Bayley to come out of this feud with absolutely zero redeeming quality.

She accepted the stipulation, so the ball is heavily in Bayley’s court, and she’s going to have her reputation in tatters if she comes out without the title, all as a result of the WWE’s incessant need to pursue the “Bayley is a kid at heart” angle.

This isn’t to say that Bayley should win the match, it’s to say that the woman has been set up for absolute failure if she gets pinned at Extreme Rules.

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What do you think? Has WWE made a mistake in consistently belittling Bayley’s background, or does it make for a more compelling rivalry for the title?