WWE’s Four Horsewomen are the most talented female wrestlers on the planet. Of those wrestlers, one name that doesn’t get enough credit is Bayley. From Hugger to Role Model, the former SmackDown Women’s Champion is currently one of the best wrestlers on the planet. As she turned 32 this week, let’s analyze the accolades of the Role Model.

Let’s kick things off with NXT, the place the Bayley phenomenon began. She portrayed a pure, clean-cut babyface unlike any seen before. Her school-girl persona didn’t match that of a wrestler, but still made her very popular with the NXT Universe. That character came to fruition when she entered the NXT Women’s Title picture.

Against her biggest rival, Sasha Banks, Bayley put on a wonderful performance to wrestle the title away from ‘The Boss’. Their battle at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn is often considered the greatest women’s match in WWE, and even the greatest match in NXT history. After a glorious reign, she dropped the title to NXT’s next huge name, Asuka.

Coming to the main roster meant Bayley had to put on a show for Vince McMahon and prove why she deserved to stand amongst Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks. Unfortunately, she became a plot device in Banks vs Flair’s rivalry and ended 2016 without a title run. Fortunately for her, 2017 represented a total change.

Beating Charlotte Flair and becoming Raw Women’s Champion was a prodigious feat for Bayley. She even walked into WrestleMania as champion and walked out of it with the belt in stow.

Bayley moves to WWE SmackDown

In 2017, Bayley dropped out of the title picture when she lost her championship to Alexa Bliss. She bounced around from one storyline to the other and for two years she remained stagnant. However, she found a teammate in her former rival and the Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection took WWE by storm.

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Well, the storm didn’t arrive till 2020, but the years leading up to that were phenomenal. Banks and Bayley became the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions, but couldn’t defend it at WrestleMania, losing to the IIconics. After that, Bayley moved to SmackDown, where she gained the remainder of her success.

She won the Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in her briefcase against Charlotte Flair. She then became the first female Triple Crown Champion in WWE history. Bayley also became the first women’s Grand Slam Champion when she and Banks won the tag titles in 2020.

Her 380-day title reign is the longest SmackDown Women’s Championship reign of all time. It ended at the hands of Sasha Banks, who beat her in a Hell in a Cell classic.

A two-time and longest-reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion, former Raw Women’s Champion, former NXT Champion, former Tag Team Champion, MITB winner, first-ever Triple Crown Champion, first female Grand Slam Champion, and now the host of her own talk show. Sounds like the perfect role model.

From Tag Team Champions to Arch Nemesis: The Real Life Friendship Between Sasha Banks and Bayley