WWE: Bayley must beat Alexa Bliss to right the wrongs of their past booking

SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley will be defending her title this Sunday at WWE Stomping Grounds against Alexa Bliss, but this is far from the first time they’ve met. Bayley needs a strong win this time to right the wrongs of WWE’s past booking decisions.

WWE Stomping Grounds is only days away, and one of the more exciting matches will see Bayley defending the SmackDown Women’s Title against Alexa Bliss. With a card that’s mostly filled with rematches from WrestleMania or Super ShowDown, this is actually a fresh clash that we haven’t seen in a while.

However, it’s certainly not the first time we’ve seen these two go up against each other. Back in 2017, Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women’s Championship on an episode of WWE Raw. Bayley came up short when she challenged Flair at that year’s Royal Rumble, but an assist from Sasha Banks helped her finally defeat Charlotte and capture her first main-roster championship.

The early days of Bayley’s title reign seemed solid. WWE was still struggling to write her character effectively, and things didn’t seem to connect with the crowd as well as they had during her tenure with NXT. Bayley picked up big wins when defending her title at WWE Fastlane and later at WrestleMania 33.

After those initial defenses, the 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-Up changed up the rosters, and Bayley found herself up against a new foe. Former SmackDown Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss had arrived on WWE Raw and unfortunately went on to have a truly horrendous rivalry with Bayley.

Just over two months into Bayley’s reign as Raw Women’s Championship, she was defeated by Alexa Bliss at WWE Payback and lost the title. Her reign stood at only 76 days. For comparison, Becky Lynch’s reign as Raw Women’s Champion will soon surpass that length.

Things just didn’t work that time between Alexa Bliss and Bayley. Whether it was on WWE Raw or in the ring at a pay-per-view, nothing was clicking. This was also when we saw the infamous “This Is Your Life” segment from Alexa Bliss aimed at Bayley.

Here’s a reminder of just how terrible it was. You’ll notice the video isn’t uploaded to WWE’s official YouTube channel, as they quickly tried to scrub it out of existence.

Unfortunately, the problems didn’t end there. Every single segment between Alexa Bliss and Bayley began to feel forced, over-produced, poorly written, and just plain bad. Sometimes those struggles can be saved with a good match, but instead we got the Kendo Stick on a Pole Match at Extreme Rules 2017.

The match was truly disappointing. Bayley was set to challenge Bliss again at SummerSlam, but a shoulder injury kept it from happening. As Alexa Bliss went on to become a leader in the Raw women’s division, Bayley started struggling to stay relevant.

It was extremely frustrating for fans that had come to appreciate Bayley during her NXT years. WWE had taken one of NXT’s most-beloved babyface characters and made her an afterthought. As time ticked by, Bayley seemed to become just a background player in the women’s division.

Fast forward to Money in the Bank 2019, and WWE has been given a reminder loud and clear about how much the fans want to support Bayley. After winning the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Bayley cashed in on Charlotte Flair to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion.

The crowd went absolutely berserk, and we’ve seen Bayley properly fit into her role as the happy-go-lucky competitor that’s still a force inside the ring and ready to defend her title at any time. Thanks to WWE’s Wild Card Rule, Bayley finds herself up against one of Raw’s own stars at Stomping Grounds.

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Alexa Bliss will get to once again challenge Bayley with championship gold on the line, but things feel very different right now. Rather than a storyline focusing on how “childish” Bayley supposedly is, we’re seeing a new layer added to the mix thanks to the presence of Nikki Cross.

Alexa Bliss has always been a master manipulator, and this is no exception. Preying on Nikki’s good nature and desire to make friends, Bliss has convinced her that Bayley is the enemy. Bliss just wants championship gold, and she’s willing to do anything to give herself the upper hand at WWE Stomping Grounds.

WWE has already done a better job with the current rivalry between Alexa Bliss and Bayley than they did the first time around, but in order to finally move on from the mistakes of 2017, we need to see Bayley pick up a big win on Sunday.

Bayley will have to overcome the odds with Nikki Cross lurking at ringside, but WWE needs to reinforce her role leading SmackDown Live’s women’s division by having her topple these circumstances and remain champion.

If she were to lose, Bayley’s first reign as SmackDown Women’s Champion would end at a mere 35 days. If so, WWE would once again risk destroying Bayley’s momentum and wasting one of the company’s most beloved characters.