A ‘#GiveBayleyAChance’ Movement Is Bubbling, but Should WWE Listen?

Yesterday a story surfaced that made Bayley’s future in WWE look all too grim. Apparently, WWE has “given up” on the 28-year old and has no plans to rehabilitate her character. However, a micro-movement started in our comments and a new mantra was born: #GiveBayleyAChance.

Should WWE consider this? Is Bayley worth exhuming? Can she once again be Champion?

In 2017, Jinder Mahal proved that no Superstar is too obscure for WWE to make Champion. However, unlike Mahal, Bayley probably isn’t looked upon as the key to unlocking the Indian demographic, so she’ll have to penetrate a different market.

Luckily, women represent about 1/3 of WWE’s audience, making the Women’s Division a priority for Vince McMahon and Co. However, WWE looks to have chosen its female figureheads of the Women’s Revolution and as of right now, Bayley missed the cut.

But that doesn’t mean she’s doomed to irrelevance.

Bayley is at least partially responsible for the slip down WWE’s card. She has yet to cut a memorable promo and has made arguably zero alterations to her NXT character. However, the majority of fallacies within the Bayley character represent an issue much larger than a single Superstar.

One of the most common criticisms of today’s WWE is that they can no longer make “stars” like they used to. This may or may not be true, but it certainly applies to the women’s division more directly. Even though WWE will greedily tell you that they have totally re-invented women’s wrestling, they’ve only partially done the job. Despite all of these efforts to refurbish the women’s division, headliners like Sasha Banks and Charlotte still get the exact same fan reaction they did two years ago.

While consistency is good, stagnation is most certainly bad and WWE clearly struggles to take female wrestlers to the next level. Look no further than Alexa Bliss, who not long ago, looked like the female version of Chris Jericho. However, her rise, while impressive, quickly plateaued as WWE seemingly couldn’t figure out how to expand her character.

So if WWE can’t capitalize on Banks, Charlotte, and Bliss, then how can we possibly assume that they know what to do with Bayley?

While she did get a turn with the RAW Women Championship, it was more of a test to see if WWE could capture lightning in a bottle. Bayley’s run as champ was a dud and WWE simply moved on the to next candidate.

This type of locust booking isn’t just thought of the past – it’s happening right now. Asuka is currently WWE’s shiniest toy and one day soon she’ll be RAW Women’s Champion. But armed with only a winning streak and some unique physicality how can we expect her to fair any better than her peers?

So while Bayley may have her shortcomings, the problem is that WWE isn’t quite sure how to place its female Superstars in a position to succeed. It may appear that Bayley has been banished to WWE’s shadows, but that’s not true. She’s talented, experienced, and from the sounds of it, very passionate about her job. At this point though, she won’t be getting help from WWE and if she wants to #GiveBayleyAChance, she’ll have to do it herself.