Bayley appeared as a guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling and WWE.
During the discussion, the WWE Superstar confirmed she has a year and a half left on her WWE contract, spoke about her relationship with Michael Cole, what’s next for her, the “Oh Hey Bayley” chants, not being at the WrestleMania 40 press conference and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights.
On Michael Cole: “We’ll be putting stuff together before the show and he’ll be like, ‘Hey Bayley, so I guess I gotta cheer for you tonight because you’re wrestling Liv.’ I’m like, ‘You don’t have to cheer for me, Michael, I don’t care what you do.’ [He goes] ‘Oh, well, screw you then’, and he just flips me off from the chair and I’m in the ring trying to do my work. He’s just so funny, dude. He’s for real, like a mentor to me. He’s somebody that I can go to, he’s been here for so long, and he’s always available. You can’t always get in Hunter’s ear, Michael Hayes is always available, and he has a very different mindset. But Cole is there watching everything, watching every girl’s match, watching all the guys’ matches, and he’s been doing it and calling matches forever. So getting his mindset on things is always super helpful and he’s just always rooting for us and he has a different insight on stuff. So as much as I give him crap on TV, he’s somebody that even just up until just Monday, I went on Pat’s bus with him. As I was getting ready, I was texting him, ‘Hey, where you at? I’m wrestling Liv, and I just have some notes to give you.’ And he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m on Pat’s bus, come on over.’ I’m like, okay. So I went and sat with him, and Pat and just kind of gave him some notes, but he also asked, so what’s going on with this, and what’s going on with that? How can we make this better? Because he kind of has an idea of the direction I want to go as a character. So he really is the best, and he really wants the best for everybody, but not everyone uses him as an outlet, but he’s so knowledgeable, and I’ve learned a lot from him.”
On how long she intends to wrestle for: “When I was younger, because women didn’t wrestle as long as we’re doing it now. Trish and Lita, if you think about it, they were everyone’s heroes. They were my heroes, and they only did it like, six, seven years with WWE, and were only on top for three years or something. So to me, that was always in my head. But now you look at Nattie, who’s been here forever. I just wrestled her on Friday, and just incredible in the ring. Just one of one, and everything that she brings to it, not just in the ring, but her experience, and we really need that in the locker room. So I always think that even if I’m not wrestling every week, there’s something that I have that can help the locker room just like she does, just like Naomi does, just like Tamina does. But when I was younger I always said all right, 35 would be my cut off, because, in my opinion, guys can go forever, but it’s not that cute when you’re a woman and you’re 35. But now that I’m 35 I’m just like, Oh we’re all way past that, and we’re still, main eventing, we’re still, doing red carpets, we’re still doing all this stuff. People still care about us. So that’s kind of like something, they still care about us. So that’s kind of like changed my mindset.”
On what’s next:“I have so many other things I want to make it into. I have a year and a half left on this current contract, so we’ll see what happens then. [And then what?] Man, I don’t know. I think I’ve done everything I really want to do, not everything. There’s still a lot I want to get done, but done so much with WWE and I’ve been here for already 12 years and there’s a huge wave of women coming in that I think are ready to take over, ready to be in those spots. Teaming with Lyra right now has been super eye-opening to what the whole division has to offer. I’ve got to work with Roxanne. I got to work with Cora. But even like last night, hanging out with Lyra, we went out to dinner, and we hung out with Michin for her birthday. But being able to hang out with her outside of wrestling, hearing her mindset and why she does this, why she wants to make it better, what she wants to make better, how she wants to help even me. Things that we’re doing going into WrestleMania, how she wants to be better for me makes me so happy that there’s people like that and women like that that want to be better for the division. So when I think about okay, I might be done in a couple of years, who knows? I know that it’s going to be in good hands. So that makes me really happy. Where before John Cena always says he couldn’t leave, because who was going to do what he does? Who’s going to take his place? Who’s going to be the one to freaking put asses in seats? Who’s going to be the one that the kids want to see, that the kids idolize to the level that he does? Cody’s doing that. I’m not saying I’m John Cena, but that’s kind of the same mindset. As long as it’s in good hands, the goal was to just leave it in a better place than you found it.”
On some fans still not giving her the respect she deserves: “And that sucks, because like I said, I don’t let things get to me and I stopped reading tweets or comments and all that stuff a long time ago. But I do feel that, and I see that, and I’m just like, What am I missing? So that’s the one thing that still gets to me, and maybe that’s ego or pride or whatever. But I’m just like, What am I missing that you don’t understand what I’ve done for this industry? It’s hard to explain, especially now, because I feel like, okay, I’ve been wrestling for like 16 years altogether. So I’m like, Okay, well obviously I’m gonna slow down at some point, but now when I see sh*t like that, ‘She’s not this or not this…’ Now I gotta prove them wrong. But there’s also a part of me that feels and agrees with them. I was just telling Lyra this the other day. We’ve been doing a lot of bonding. I don’t feel that I’m at a level of Charlotte or a Becky. We came up together and I wrestled Charlotte in her first match ever, I was signed to WWE before Becky. So to me, they’re up here, and I’m just not there yet. Maybe that’s kind of where people base it off, or where they judge it, or whatever. But I keep saying I get my feedback and opinions from the right people. To me, someone like Tyler Breeze, who taught me so many things. I still talk to him about all my matches, he still gives me feedback, he still gives me ideas to this day and if he enjoys something that I do, then I believe it, and I respect it. But if he tells me you need to do this better, I’ll do it. Someone like TJ, whatever he says, I respect it, and I believe him. So as many people think that I’m not at this level, or whatever, part of me agrees with them, because I don’t think I’m there yet.”
On not being at the WrestleMania 40 press conference: “I don’t get on the press conference. I don’t get on the posters. I don’t get to do the talk shows. I don’t know what else to do, and it’s not like [there’s an issue], there’s no heat backstage or anything like that. Hunter and I have a really good relationship. Bruce and I have a really good relationship, all the TR, I have such a good relationship with them, and I’ve always been professional. Even when I’ve gone to other shows to support my friends, we’ve had those conversations of like, the do’s and the don’ts, and that was a little too much. We’ve had those conversations, so I think we’re at a real respect level. Hunter has gone on a press conference being like, Bayley’s this, Bayley’s this, she’s everything that you could possibly want out of a superstar, which I appreciate. But it’s like alright, well what do I need to do to get me there?”
On the Hey Bayley chant: “I think it was in London, the tour we did. Because I did a tour when I was NXT Champion with WWE before our Brooklyn match. But I think it was the tour that we did with NXT before my London match with Nia. So we did a few shows before the London match, and I think the UK crowd started it then, and I didn’t really get it until maybe the second or third show. Because it was our first time there. But they were chanting for everybody. And then when they came up with that, I was like, that’s really cool. But then when we did it in London, that was the first time I felt that the crowd really brought me to life. I wish everybody could feel that feeling. I say that all the time, but it was like she was killing me in the match and I was just like, dead, how am I going to survive kind of thing, dead on the floor. When they started singing, I felt such a crazy energy like they’re really bringing me back to life. It was so, so wild. I just love that it’s come this far and that they still do it. I feel like that’s something I always have when I go over there and I love it.”
