Well, I'd like to point out that I thought this change was needed and was necessary for Bayley MONTHS ago, when her career was starting to flounder; very similarly to how I said they needed to modify the way they handle Becky Lynch if they wanted to catch her lightning and bottle it (and they did).
So, what happened ??
After losing her SmackDown Women's Championship, the following SmackDown we see our usual Bayley entrance with the tube men and happy cheery music. But Bayley looked different, gone was that signature ponytail that said "cutesy Bayley" and in was a short hair cut, gone was the colourful attire and in its place stood harsh gold, silver, and black attire. Then she took a sharp blade on the end of a stick and absolutely shredded the tube men, the "Bayley Buddies" got annihilated. Then after making her way to her ring for the match, she kicks Charlotte into a corner near the end and rolls her into a small package for a quick 1,2,3 and reclaiming of her title. After reclaiming the title and referring to all the other girls as bitches in the back and telling all the fans to go to hell, she heads for the back.
Thus, a new Bayley has been created, the heel Bayley that many (including myself) wanted to see. Some people because they wanted her to not be all bubblegum and rainbows; then people like me who saw WWE butcher her good-girl persona, the merch selling female John Cena, when they promoted her from NXT who then floundered around. I have a feeling all of that is about to change for the better. It does leave that one question I posed in the title of my article.
WHERE CAN IT GO FROM HERE ??
What can Bayley do to make an impact as a heel, the problem is she was such an extreme babyface that they've got their work cut for them to make people want to boo Bayley. Which could be a good thing, regardless of who they put in front of her have her win and if she doesn't win the match make sure that she tries to "cause bodily harm". The only way to get heat on a babyface that is as over as Bayley was is to be drastic and I know they don't use a lot of weapons, not a lot of chair shots anymore because of the concussions, and the last time Bayley had a kendo stick she looked ridiculous but they need to get some of that in there. That would cover bodily harm but she does need to get heat badly, beating people up if she loses will help, interrupting matches will help, helping other heels (especially if they turn Sasha if she already isn't), all of these things will make her a more disliked person. Regardless of heat, there will always be people who love Bayley, just like how no matter how big of a jerk he was during his heel run with Paul Heyman, no one could truly hate CM Punk. "Creative writing" and I use creative loosely because nothing they do is very creative but writing is not conductive to professional wrestling, it is to acting, but if we still were in the days of bookers actually booking wrestling matches then things would be much easier for Bayley.
What I would love to see is her hold onto the belt for an extended amount of time, using selfish tactics to keep it to herself if possible, while at the same time, I'd like to see her and Sasha recapture the Women's Tag Titles (if that's still a thing, I've been out of it for awhile). A prolonged run with any title helps give that title, and it's holder, validity and credibility. That's just what Bayley needs, heel credibility and if she uses heel tactics to keep the title it will give her what she needs. And if she has the title and the tag title, she's literally in command and there's no one higher on the pecking order than her, or so she could say, which could lead into an inter-brand feud with Becky Lynch and maybe they put both titles on the line there. And by smacking Becky in the face with a belt while distracted, bam, she pins her and they have all 3 belts on Bayley briefly (with Becky regaining hers in a month so RAW has a RAW champ). I'd also like to see, if they plan on keeping Sasha face (I'm not sure where she's at right now) but if they do, this is 100% the time to pull that trigger on the breakup of friendship. Then Sasha and Bayley could tear the house down like they did in NXT.
To be honest, and it'd be hard with Becky as an uber face, but with Bayley, Charlotte, and most likely Sasha all heels........now is the time to do the Four Horsewomen. Just like their predecessors they can all be the hardest working heel tag team faction in the company.
I'm just excited there's a lot they can do with a heel Bayley, so we'll just have to wait and see, and hope that WWE doesn't mess this up like they do 90% of their other recent ideas.
So, what happened ??
After losing her SmackDown Women's Championship, the following SmackDown we see our usual Bayley entrance with the tube men and happy cheery music. But Bayley looked different, gone was that signature ponytail that said "cutesy Bayley" and in was a short hair cut, gone was the colourful attire and in its place stood harsh gold, silver, and black attire. Then she took a sharp blade on the end of a stick and absolutely shredded the tube men, the "Bayley Buddies" got annihilated. Then after making her way to her ring for the match, she kicks Charlotte into a corner near the end and rolls her into a small package for a quick 1,2,3 and reclaiming of her title. After reclaiming the title and referring to all the other girls as bitches in the back and telling all the fans to go to hell, she heads for the back.
Thus, a new Bayley has been created, the heel Bayley that many (including myself) wanted to see. Some people because they wanted her to not be all bubblegum and rainbows; then people like me who saw WWE butcher her good-girl persona, the merch selling female John Cena, when they promoted her from NXT who then floundered around. I have a feeling all of that is about to change for the better. It does leave that one question I posed in the title of my article.
WHERE CAN IT GO FROM HERE ??
What can Bayley do to make an impact as a heel, the problem is she was such an extreme babyface that they've got their work cut for them to make people want to boo Bayley. Which could be a good thing, regardless of who they put in front of her have her win and if she doesn't win the match make sure that she tries to "cause bodily harm". The only way to get heat on a babyface that is as over as Bayley was is to be drastic and I know they don't use a lot of weapons, not a lot of chair shots anymore because of the concussions, and the last time Bayley had a kendo stick she looked ridiculous but they need to get some of that in there. That would cover bodily harm but she does need to get heat badly, beating people up if she loses will help, interrupting matches will help, helping other heels (especially if they turn Sasha if she already isn't), all of these things will make her a more disliked person. Regardless of heat, there will always be people who love Bayley, just like how no matter how big of a jerk he was during his heel run with Paul Heyman, no one could truly hate CM Punk. "Creative writing" and I use creative loosely because nothing they do is very creative but writing is not conductive to professional wrestling, it is to acting, but if we still were in the days of bookers actually booking wrestling matches then things would be much easier for Bayley.
What I would love to see is her hold onto the belt for an extended amount of time, using selfish tactics to keep it to herself if possible, while at the same time, I'd like to see her and Sasha recapture the Women's Tag Titles (if that's still a thing, I've been out of it for awhile). A prolonged run with any title helps give that title, and it's holder, validity and credibility. That's just what Bayley needs, heel credibility and if she uses heel tactics to keep the title it will give her what she needs. And if she has the title and the tag title, she's literally in command and there's no one higher on the pecking order than her, or so she could say, which could lead into an inter-brand feud with Becky Lynch and maybe they put both titles on the line there. And by smacking Becky in the face with a belt while distracted, bam, she pins her and they have all 3 belts on Bayley briefly (with Becky regaining hers in a month so RAW has a RAW champ). I'd also like to see, if they plan on keeping Sasha face (I'm not sure where she's at right now) but if they do, this is 100% the time to pull that trigger on the breakup of friendship. Then Sasha and Bayley could tear the house down like they did in NXT.
To be honest, and it'd be hard with Becky as an uber face, but with Bayley, Charlotte, and most likely Sasha all heels........now is the time to do the Four Horsewomen. Just like their predecessors they can all be the hardest working heel tag team faction in the company.
I'm just excited there's a lot they can do with a heel Bayley, so we'll just have to wait and see, and hope that WWE doesn't mess this up like they do 90% of their other recent ideas.