Bayley Explains Why She Wanted to Turn Heel Last Year, Proving Doubters Wrong

Bayley was named No. 1 on the PWI Women's 100 list earlier this week following her year-long SmackDown Women's Championship reign and outstanding work as a heel. Shortly after the announcement "The Role Model" appeared on The PWI Podcast, where she reflected on how she had to push to get a heel turn backstage and was met with plenty of doubters who believed she wouldn't be able to pull it off.

"I think for one, everybody thought it was going to fail," Bayley said (h/t WrestlingNews.co). "They thought I made the wrong decision and I couldn't pull it off. I think I proved everyone wrong, especially with the craziness of what has been going on with the pandemic and not being able to perform in front of fans, which makes everything harder. But, I was still able to pull it off and use it to my advantage."

Bayley effectively turned heel in September 2019 when she aligned herself with Sasha Banks during the latter's feud with Becky Lynch. But things full changed in mid-October when she dropped the women's title to Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell, arrived on SmackDown five days later sporting a new look and won the title right back.

"Everyone second-guessed things, especially for me because I was doing that Bayley character for 7 years and it brought me so much success. It brought me championships and brought me to the WWE, but it was not something I wanted to do forever. I want to experience everything in my career. I want to ride the wave and do all sorts of things. I knew I couldn't do it being that one character. Honestly, once I had the company's blessing and Vince's blessing, I knew I had to make it work. I had to make it work because it was my decision. If I failed then I failed myself and I failed the company. I definitely think people not believing in me helps because you love to prove people wrong. It helps on screen as well because then I'm not doing it for them, I'm doing it for me."

Hell in a Cell takes place on Oct. 25. Check out the full card (so far) below:

• WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Hell in a Cell I Quit Match)
• WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton (Hell in a Cell Match)
• SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks (Hell in a Cell)