Bayley
Bayley
Pamela Rose Martinez [104] [135] [13] (born June 15, 1989) [104] is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bayley, and is a former Raw Women's Champion, as well as a former NXT Women's Champion.
Early Life
Martinez was born on June 15, 1989 in San Jose, California.
She trained under Jason Styles.
Professional Wrestling Career
Independent Circuit (2008–2012)
Martinez had been attending shows by Big Time Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion in Northern California, since she was 11. [135] [11] She started her professional wrestling career at the age of 18 in April 2008 by attending Big Time Wrestling's training classes by her head trainer Jason Styles, [135] [11] which was one of the reasons why Martinez considered Big Time Wrestling as her home promotion. [135] [11] She had her first match in September 2008. [11] On the American independent circuit, Martinez wrestled under the ring name Davina Rose. [15] Rose wrestled for Big Time Wrestling from 2008 to 2012. [18] [21] From 2011 to 2012, Rose branched out to wrestle for other promotions like NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and Shine Wrestling. [24] [26] [28]
Rose first met her mentor Serena in October 2010 when they teamed together for a tag team match. [135] When Rose made her debut for Shimmer Women Athletes in October 2011 at the tapings of Shimmer Volume 41–44, she became embroiled in Serena's feud with the Canadian Ninjas (Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews). [135] [11] At the tapings, Rose lost all four matches wrestled including her debut match to Mercedes Martinez. [31] Rose continued to wrestle for Shimmer in 2012 and she received her first victory on Volume 48 as she teamed with Mia Yim to defeat Melanie Cruise and Mena Libra; on Volumes 51 and 52, Rose picked up her first two singles victories in Shimmer with wins over Cherry Bomb and Rhia O'Reilly. [34]
WWE
NXT (2012–2016)
In December 2012, it was reported that Martinez had signed with WWE. In late January 2013, Martinez made her début for WWE's developmental territory NXT at a live event, wrestling under a mask. She then adopted the ring name Bayley and made her NXT television debut in a loss to Paige on the March 20 episode. [94] On June 12, Bayley adopted a new character of a doe-eyed fangirl, then lost to Alicia Fox in the first round of the NXT Women's Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champion. [43] [46] On August 21, Bayley unsuccessfully challenged AJ Lee for the Divas Championship. [50]
Bayley got her first win, by teaming with Charlotte against Alicia Fox and Aksana on September 4. [50] To Charlotte's annoyance, The Beautiful Fierce Females (BFFs; Sasha Banks and Summer Rae), attempted to convince Bayley to join them, [56] however, on November 13, Charlotte attacked Bayley during their match against the BFFs and promptly joined the BFFs instead. [57] Bayley then formed a brief alliance with main roster Diva Natalya, defeating Sasha Banks in both tag team and singles matches. On May 1, 2014, Bayley failed to advance in a tournament for the vacant NXT Women's Championship after losing to Banks in the first round. [60] After pinning Charlotte in a tag team match, [64] Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to become the number one contender to Charlotte's NXT Women's Championship, [66] but she was unsuccessful in capturing the title at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, [68] and in a rematch that took place on October 2. [69] In mid-October, after losing to Banks, Bayley was attacked by her former friend Becky Lynch, who allied with Banks, and Bayley later formed an alliance with former rival Charlotte to feud with Banks and Lynch throughout the following several weeks. [70] On the November 27 episode of NXT, Bayley was attacked by Banks and Lynch, injuring her knee in the storyline. [71] She returned on the January 21, 2015 episode of NXT, saving Charlotte from an attack by Banks and Lynch, before reluctantly attacking Charlotte herself. [72] A month later, on February 11 at NXT TakeOver: Rival, Bayley competed in a fatal four-way match for the NXT Women's Championship, but she failed to capture the title. [73]
In March, Bayley began a feud with Emma after she criticized Bayley for her niceness and claimed that it had prevented her from winning the NXT Women's Championship. [74] [75] This led to a match between the two on the April 1 episode of NXT, which Bayley won. [76] On the April 29 episode of NXT, Bayley was defeated by Dana Brooke after a distraction by Emma. [77] Bayley would gain revenge on Emma the following week, where she would attack her after Emma's loss to Charlotte in a match. [78] At NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable on May 20, Bayley teamed up with Charlotte to defeat Emma and Dana Brooke. [79] On the May 27 episode of NXT, Bayley was defeated by Emma, and after the match she and Charlotte were attacked by Emma and Dana Brooke. [80] After a short hiatus, Bayley returned from a broken hand injury, on the July 22 episode of NXT, where she defeated Emma and stated she has her sights set on the NXT Women's Championship, officially ending their feud. [81]
In August, after defeating Charlotte, [82] Bayley defeated Becky Lynch to become the new number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship.
[83] On August 22 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to win the NXT Women's Championship for the first time, and after the match she celebrated with Banks, Lynch and Charlotte. [12] In a rematch between the two, contested in the main event of NXT TakeOver: Respect on October 7, in the first ever women's 30-minute Iron Man match in WWE history, [85] Bayley defeated Banks with 3 falls to 2 after securing the third fall with three seconds left the match, and retained the championship. [45] [87] Throughout her championship reign, Bayley went on to fend off title contenders like Alexa Bliss, [88] [90] [91] Eva Marie, [92] [93] Nia Jax [95] [96] [97] [98] and Carmella. [99] [102] [106]
On the March 16 episode of NXT, after Bayley and Asuka won a tag team match, where NXT general manager William Regal announced that Bayley would defend her championship against Asuka on April 1 at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, [111] where Bayley lost the championship to Asuka by technical submission, ending her reign at 223 days. [113] After a brief hiatus from in-ring competition, Bayley returned on the May 18 episode of NXT after being challenged by Nia Jax to a match, in which she was defeated. [114] After being replaced by Jax at NXT TakeOver: The End due to a storyline injury which made her unable to compete in a rematch for the NXT Women's Championship against Asuka, [116] Bayley made her return on the June 22 episode of NXT, where she defeated Deonna Purrazzo. [118] On the July 27 episode of NXT, Bayley asked NXT's general manager William Regal a rematch against Asuka for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, which he granted. [120] Two weeks later on the August 10 episode of NXT, a contract signing was held between both women, which they would sign and subsequently accept. [121] At the event on August 20, Bayley failed to regain the title, in what would be her last match in NXT. [122]
Raw (2016–Present)
Bayley staring at Asuka after losing her championship at NXT TakeOver: Dallas in April 2016
On July 24 at Battleground, Bayley made her WWE main roster and pay-per-view debut in a one-off appearance as Sasha Banks's mystery tag team partner, defeating Charlotte and Dana Brooke. [119]
On the August 22 episode of Raw , Bayley made her official main roster debut after being established as part of the brand by Raw general manager Mick Foley, where she confronted and challenged the Raw Women's Champion Charlotte to a title match, which Charlotte would refuse and instead force protégé Brooke to face her, whom Bayley would defeat. [123] At Clash of Champions, Bayley was unsuccessful in winning the championship from Charlotte in a triple threat match, which also included Banks. [100] Throughout this time, she entered a feud with Brooke. She teamed with The New Day to defeat her and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson on the August 29 episode of Raw, after the match, the two had an altercation backstage. Brooke defeated her on the October 10 episode, but Bayley defeated Brooke the following week. On the October 24 episode, Brooke attacked her during an arm-wrestling match, which lead to a match at Hell in a Cell, which Bayley won.
On the October 31 episode of Raw, Bayley was revealed as a member of Team Raw for Survivor Series, in which she was a survivor alongside Charlotte. After the match, Charlotte attacked Bayley. On the January 2, 2017 episode of Raw, Bayley defeated Nia Jax to become the number one contender for Charlotte Flair's Raw Women's Championship. She challenged Flair at the Royal Rumble but was unsuccessful in capturing the title. [101] She earned a rematch after she, Cesaro and Sheamus defeated Flair, Gallows and Anderson the next night on Raw, with Bayley pinning Flair. [103] Two weeks later on the edition of February 13 of Raw, after an assist from Sasha Banks, Bayley defeated Flair in the main event to win the Raw Women's Championship. [13] At Fastlane, thanks to a distraction from Banks, she retained the title against Charlotte, and in turn gave Charlotte her first pay-per-view loss. [13] At WrestleMania 33, in Bayley's WrestleMania debut, she retained the title against Charlotte, Banks and Nia Jax in a fatal four-way elimination match. [13] On April 30, Bayley dropped the title to Alexa Bliss at Payback and failed to regain the title in a kendo stick on a pole match at Extreme Rules. She once again became the number one contender for the championship after defeating Banks on the July 24 episode of Raw, and will face Bliss at Summerslam [13] However, Bayley suffered a shoulder injury during her match against Nia Jax the following week. One week later, it was revealed that the injury to Bayley was a separated shoulder, and thus would leave her unable to compete. [13]
Bayley returned from her injury on the September 18, 2017 edition of Raw to help Sasha Banks fend off Nia Jax, and Alexa Bliss.
It was later announced that she was also added to the Raw Women's Championship match at No Mercy, making it a fatal 5-way. She lost the match after she was pinned by defending champion Alexa Bliss. Bayley defeated Mickie James and Dana Brooke in a triple threat match to become the final member of Team Raw for Survivor Series. At Survivor Series, Bayley was the first member of Team Raw to be eliminated in the 5-on-5 traditional tag team match but still Team Raw went on to defeat Team Smackdown.
Other Media
Bayley has appeared in two WWE video games.
She made her in-game debut in WWE 2K17 [13] and appears in WWE 2K18
Personal Life
Martinez cites Randy Savage, The Rock, The Hardy Boyz, Lita, Eddie Guerrero, Ivory, Victoria, Bret Hart, Triple H and Trish Stratus as her influences in wrestling. [13] She was in attendance for No Way Out 2004. [13] She is engaged to independent wrestler Aaron Solow. [13]
In Wrestling
Finishing moves As Bayley Bayley-to-Belly Suplex [125] / Hug-plex [133] (Belly-to-belly suplex, sometimes from the second rope) [31] Diving elbow drop, with theatrics — 2017–present; adopted from Randy Savage [137] [139]
As Davina Rose* Rose Plant (Arm trap headlock driver) [138]
Signature moves Bayleycanrana [73] [82] [12] (Super frankensteiner, sometimes inverted) [140] Diving back elbow, sometimes while performing a corkscrew [83] [98] [31] [31] Diving crossbody Dropkick Multiple suplex variations Belly-to-back Exploder, sometimes into the ring turnbuckle [12] [143] [8] [10] German [68] [73] [14] Running back elbow to a cornered opponent, often preceded by a running turnbuckle thrust with theatrics Guillotine choke with bodyscissors [98] [113] [114] Headscissors armbar to a bent over opponent [98] Hurricanrana Japanese arm drag [85] [18] Multiple running double axe handles, sometimes to an oncoming opponent [12] [18] [25] Multiple running back elbows to a cornered opponent [81] [83] [98] Multiple turnbuckle head smashes with theatrics [81] [12] [91] Neck wrench, sometimes while applying a modified surfboard stretch [94] [29] Front powerslam, transitioned from a cornered opponent [83] [91] [102] Springboard elbow drop to a tree of woe hung opponent [12] [85] Running corner clothesline [102] [143] [18] Running knee drop [50] [91] [102] One-handed bulldog, sometimes to a kneeling opponent [81] [85] [143] Sliding clothesline to a seated opponent [12] [91] [102] [25] Running spinning back elbow to a seated opponent's back [12] [25] Running baseball slide, under the bottom turnbuckle [68] [12] Slip 'N Slide [18] (Spinning on top of a face-down opponent) [38] [18] Springboard corkscrew arm drag [102] [118] [18] [18] Scissored armbar [87] [113] Stunner to an opponent hung over the second rope Running reverse bulldog
Nicknames "Everyone's Favorite Hugger" The Huggable One"[21] [21]
Entrance themes "Boyfriend" (instrumental) by Richard Harris and Robert J Walsh [21] (NXT; June 11, 2013 – September 11, 2014) "Turn It Up" by CFO$ [21] (NXT/ WWE; September 11, 2014–present)
Championships and Accomplishments
Pro Wrestling Illustrated Match of the Year (2015) vs. Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Respect Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2015, 2016) Ranked No. 5 of the top 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2016 and 2017 [21] [21]
Rolling Stone NXT Match of the Year (2015) [51] vs. Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn Title Feud of the Year, NXT (2015) [51] vs. Sasha Banks for the NXT Women's Championship
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Most Improved (2015) [21]
WWE WWE Raw Women's Championship (1 time)
WWE NXT NXT Women's Championship (1 time) [12] NXT Year-End Award (2 times) Female Competitor of the Year (2015) [54] Match of the Year (2015) vs. Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn [54]