WWE NXT star Bayley recently appeared on Chris Jericho’s “Talk is Jericho” podcast and below are some interview highlights:
On People Latching on to the Bayley Character:
I think it just came naturally as I started wrestling and as soon as I started this Bayley character, people just latched onto it right away and it just got me. It was so cool. As soon as I heard a reaction from my first match, it was against Alicia Fox, I was like, oh man, they know exactly, they could feel me and it was so cool, it was such a cool feeling because even though I’ve wrestled before on the independence and stuff I never really had that connection, I just felt like a wrestler having fun with myself…that sounded weird. Having fun because I loved wrestling, but now I was here involving everybody and it’s a really cool connection with all age groups.
On the Origin of Her Bayley Character:
I really didn’t care which way it went because they would ask me if I can be a heel doing this, or if I can be a babyface doing this. They wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing and it wasn’t just one dimensional, so I kind of felt creepy doing it at the same time so I knew it can come off as Mickie James if I needed to come off as this psycho hiding behind walls and creeping on all my favorite wrestlers, but I think, some people may have taken it that way the first time I was hugging Alicia Fox and running into her corners and people were like, eww, that’s strange and some people took to it and now more people are taken to it.
On Being a Huge Wrestling Fan Growing Up:
I was a huge fan. I have been to like a million shows, live events and I went to all the autograph signings that I could. I stood in line forever. I stood in line one time I went to a signing with Rey Mysterio in Oakland at a Popeyes Chicken and I made my Dad drive me to San Francisco where John Cena was doing a signing in like a eye glass place or something, but I waited in line for a total of five hours that day just to meet Rey Mysterio and John Cena, so I went to all kinds of signings. I went to one with Edge and Victoria at a Bail Bonds place. Back then they did random places.
On Her Interaction with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine:
I remember meeting Greg Valentine once at this indy show where I trained with Big Time Wrestling. So, when I was a kid I used to go to these indy shows and you can go in the ring and take pictures at intermission when they had polaroids. So, it was him and Ivory, and I walked in and he’s like, did you pay? I went to shake his hand, and he’s like, did you pay? I was like, yeah, I gave her my money, it was like $10 or something, then he goes to her, and was like, did she pay? Did she pay? She goes, yeah, she paid for it, and I’m like, is he asking everybody or just me? Do I look like I’m a kid who sneaks in? So, I guess that’s the meanest everybody has ever been to me.
On Wanting to be a Professional Wrestler for Big Time Wrestling:
I started going to those shows when I was 13. It was the first wrestling show that I saw. They were at the San Jose Boys & Girls Club and Buff Bagwell was there, so I was like, man, this is cool, my first wrestling show I got to meet Buff Bagwell and since then I went every single time. They ran about twice every, no, once every two months or something, and every time they had a wrestler there like Ivory, Billy Gunn, and Matt Hardy when he first left WWE. They’ve had everybody so it was like my chance to meet all these guys and when I turned 18 I started training with them because I knew they had a school and it was the easiest thing to do so I told them that I wanted to train with them and they knew me from growing up. At first they were hesitant, and the promoter called my mom the first day and was like, do you know who I have in front of me right now? Her response was, yes, she wants to do it and I guess I will stand by her from now on or whatever and they had to get my mom’s permission.
On Wrestling Locally in Northern California:
I first did just Big Time Wrestling. That was all I could really do then; there’s this promotion in Reno called “PWD” that did a few shows, and I was like their first Women’s Champion. I don’t think they run anymore but they were cool. I did NWA-Hollywood, started working that. Trying to get out there; it wasn’t until I did Shimmer in Chicago that people started noticing and book you more because that was more people.
On Her favorite Women Wrestler’s Growing Up:
Lita, Ivory, Victoria. Lita, I think because she was just so different than anybody else and I thought she was the coolest. I would wear those baggy-red pants, or baggy-orange pants and chokers. My friends would make fun of me because I had the Hardy Boys necklace and I would wear it in P.E, and I was a total dork. Ivory and Victoria; I just loved how they wrestled. I knew that they were amazing and I knew Lita was who I wanted to be because I felt that I was different than any other girls too so that was kind of how I like picked my favorites.
On How She Came Up with the Side Ponytail:
First, I guess it was the Napoleon Dynamite, the chick in Napoleon Dynamite with a side ponytail, and I thought, man, she looks real dorky, and I thought it was so cool, and that is how they used to wear it in the 80’s and stuff, which I always thought was a cool look with bright colors and everything. Everyone just had their hair down, or curls, or whatever so at first I started with a normal ponytail and then as the promo classes went on I put it to the side more and more and started to stand differently like putting my feet together and like started rubbing my hands on my legs because I was so sweaty and nervous, and this is funny because my first match with Alicia Fox I came out with the ponytail and as she is coming down I get in the corner and I take my hair out because I just thought it was like a look, but I knew I was going to get messy in the match so I just took it out and stand there, and after the match I come back and Dream [Dusty Rhodes] is standing there right at the stairs and he goes, why did you take your hair down? And I was like, it’s going to get messed up, and he was like, don’t you ever take your hair down as long as you are doing this character; You keep it in the ponytail you hear me? I was like, um yeah ok, I thought he was crazy because I thought I was going to look terrible, but now it’s kind of like a thing.
On Dusty Rhodes Involvement with the Bayley Character:
He was the best. As for everybody in the PC, he believed in everybody no matter what and he always found the good in everybody, or he always knew what would work with you so, I feel like the first time he saw me he knew what I needed work on which was just presentation and promo skills in general so he would set aside classes for a certain group of people and would focus on what exactly it was we needed. He always told us to believe in our words so he would just have us tell stories because if you tell real stories it’s obviously like genuine and I don’t know, he would push everybody and I remember Paige sitting up there in promo class and she would say something and he would make her do it over. I thought it was good, but he always had an eye and was like, no do it again, and do it like this, do it slower, speak softly and these words and scream at these words and would make it a million times better, and I don’t know, he was just always the best and it sucks not having him around, but i am so happy that he was there in the beginning of my career, he is always with me, always makes me believe in myself.
On Her Long Running Feud With Sasha Banks:
Just a little over three years. Sasha and I started around the same time. She was here a little bit before me; but since I came in, I remember we had to have a practice match, they used to do something where people would come in from wrestling and put them in a match on the fly and go, and only the coaches were watching so they just wanted to see what you were capable of, and they put Sasha in the ring with me so they were like, ok you guys have a five minute match…go! And I was like, oh no, so we just had a match, but it just clicked, we just felt so comfortable around each other and since then we were kind of like, paired off, and we always would joke about how on NXT TV’s they would just throw us out there, like, ok, Sasha vs. Bayley and we literally did it every single taping and we kind of came to the point where we would go, ok lemme guess…Sasha? And then, their response would always be, yeah, you do! And then it just finally built up and when we met at Brooklyn, there was so many people and so much pressure and I knew what the match meant, but I felt comfortable because I was with her and we both wanted the same out of it, we kept saying how we wanted this to be the best Women’s match ever because that’s always everyone’s goal.
On Triple H Believing Reviving the Women’s Division:
It’s cool..he’s the man. I always like, Sasha, Charlotte and Becky…we kind of all said that it was so crazy that we all came at the same time and grew together because if I came a year later or a year earlier, it just wouldn’t have meant as much or I don’t know, he was always so cool. He cares about everybody and he knows everyone’s characters more than anyone else; no matter how long the match is or what the program is, or if you are on the bottom of the card or top of the card he cared about it because it’s his baby and he wanted to make sure it’s the best ever so I really notice him really caring about it when we came with the Women’s title and Paige won it the first time, I thought how he wants to make this thing special so it just kind of motivates you and you see with interviews he does and some of the panel stuff that they did for Brooklyn, he just has a soft spot for us. We call him Papa Hunter.
On How She Got the Name Bayley:
I gave like a list of names that I wanted to use and I tried using my Indy name and they wouldn’t let me use it and I was kind of thinking of names like Bobbi, or Jordan, or something like that. I was like, I don’t want it to be super-girly and be Patricia or something. Bayley was one of them, and that was the last one I wanted. I did not want that name and they gave me three choices; I forgot what the other one was, but one of them was Davia, which was not Davina, and I was like, are you guys missing the “N”? They were like, no, Davia! I was like, that’s not even a name. So, I went with Bayley. But, Bayley was with an “I”, but I said that I would choose this because I was ready to send in another list of names because I was just not happy, but I thought to myself, if I choose this one I will have to spell it B-A-Y because I’m from the Bay area and thought that was so cool, so I thought to myself that it has to mean something to me, so then I went with that and now I love it.
You can listen to the rest of the interview on Talk is Jericho only on PodcastOne.
