Former NXT and Raw Women’s champion Bayley is marketed as a fan surrogate babyface... most of the time, anyway. So how did a character who just wants to live her dream of being a pro wrestler get booed when announcing an injury which will cause her to miss a SummerSlam title shot?
It might be that “most of the time” qualifier. Critics have pointed out her booking isn’t as consistent as it was when she was one of the top drawing acts on WWE’s third brand, and have identified that as the reason she’s not as universally beloved as she was in NXT. It’s why, in his review of last night’s Raw, my boss wondered if the crowd was expressing their dissatisfaction with Bayley, or the way she’s written and presented.
As hard as it us for long-time Huggers like myself to admit, it could also be that she’s just not that popular with the greater WWE Universe. For every pre-teen fan in a headband, there’s an adult who will tell you how bad a promo she is.
But this post isn’t about debating Bayley’s strengths and weaknesses as a performer, or even whether or not Vince McMahon and the Raw Creative team “get” how to book her character.
It’s about how the Hugster reacted to receiving jeers at Air Canada Center on Aug. 7. And she did that, to steal from her bestie for a moment, like a boss:
It's a good thing I'm gonna be doing this forever, huh? #RAW
— Bayley (@itsBayleyWWE) August 8, 2017