Bayley (wrestler)


Pamela Rose Martinez is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE as a member of the SmackDown brand under the ring name Bayley, where she is currently a double champion - in her second reign each as SmackDown Women's Champion, and one-half of the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions with Sasha Banks.
Prior to her WWE career, she wrestled on the independent circuit under the ring name Davina Rose. She signed with WWE in 2012 and was assigned to the NXT brand, where she was a one-time NXT Women's Champion. She debuted on the main roster in 2016, and went on to become a one-time WWE Raw Women's Champion, one-half of the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Champions as part of The Boss 'n' Hug Connection, and a two-time SmackDown Women's Champion. In addition, she won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match in 2019.
All totaled, Bayley is a four-time women's world champion, and two-time women's tag team champion in WWE, and is the first to have won the Raw, SmackDown, and NXT Women's Championships and Women's Tag Team Championship. She is recognized as the first women's Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion in WWE history, she is the third woman to hold Double Championships in WWE history and is also the first to successfully defend a WWE Women's Championship in Saudi Arabia, at Super ShowDown.

Early life

Martinez grew up in the Bay Area suburb of San Jose, California to a Mexican-American father and an Anglo-American mother. She attended Independence High School in San Jose and once played as a captain of the school's basketball team.

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. In April 2008, she started her professional wrestling career at the age of 18, by attending Big Time Wrestling's training classes by her head trainer Jason Styles, which was one of the reasons why Martinez considered Big Time Wrestling as her home promotion. She had her first match in September 2008. On the American independent circuit, Martinez wrestled under the ring name Davina Rose. Rose wrestled for Big Time Wrestling from 2008 to 2012. Between 2011 and 2012, Rose branched out to wrestle for other promotions such as NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, Pro Wrestling Destination and Shine Wrestling.
In October 2010, Rose first met her mentor Serena when they teamed together for a tag team match. In October 2011, Rose made her debut for Shimmer Women Athletes. At the tapings of Shimmer Volume 41–44, she became embroiled in Serena's feud with the Canadian Ninjas. At the tapings, Rose lost all four matches wrestled including her debut match to Mercedes Martinez. In 2012, Rose continued to wrestle for Shimmer 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.

WWE

Early NXT appearances (2012–2015)

In December 2012, it was reported that Martinez had signed with WWE. In January 2013, Martinez made her debut 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. On June 12, Bayley adopted a new character of a doe-eyed, then lost to Alicia Fox in the first round of the NXT Women's Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champion. On August 21, Bayley unsuccessfully challenged AJ Lee for the Divas Championship. Bayley got her first win, by teaming with Charlotte against Alicia Fox and Aksana on September 4. To Charlotte's annoyance, The BFFs—Beautiful, Fierce Females, attempted to convince Bayley to join them, but this led to Charlotte attacking Bayley during their match against the BFFs on November 13 and promptly joined the BFFs instead. 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. After pinning Charlotte in a tag team match, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to become the number one contender to Charlotte's NXT Women's Championship, but she was unsuccessful in capturing the title at, and in a rematch that took place on October 2. 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. On the November 27 episode, Bayley was attacked by Banks and Lynch, injuring her knee in the storyline. She returned on the January 21, 2015, episode, saving Charlotte from an attack by Banks and Lynch, before reluctantly attacking Charlotte herself. On February 11 at, Bayley competed in a fatal four-way match for the NXT Women's Championship, but she failed to capture the title.

NXT Women's Champion (2015–2016)

In March 2015, 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. This led to a match between the two on the April 1 episode, which Bayley won. On the April 29 episode, Bayley was defeated by Dana Brooke after a distraction by Emma. Bayley gained revenge on Emma the following week, where she attacked her after Emma's loss to Charlotte in a match. At on May 20, Bayley teamed up with Charlotte to defeat Emma and Brooke. On the May 27 episode, Bayley was defeated by Emma, and after the match she and Charlotte were attacked by Emma and Dana Brooke. After a short hiatus, Bayley returned from a broken hand injury, on the July 22 episode, where she defeated Emma and stated she had her sights set on the NXT Women's Championship, officially ending their feud.
In August 2015, after defeating Charlotte, Bayley defeated Becky Lynch to become the new number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship. On August 22 at, 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. In a rematch between the two, contested in the main event at on October 7, in the first ever women's 30-minute Iron Man match in WWE history, Bayley defeated Banks with three falls to two after securing the third fall with three seconds left in the match to retain the championship. Throughout her championship reign, Bayley went on to fend off title contenders such as Alexa Bliss, Eva Marie, Nia Jax and Carmella.
On the March 16, 2016 episode of NXT, after Bayley and Asuka won a tag team match, NXT general manager William Regal announced that Bayley would defend her championship against Asuka on April 1 at. At the event, Bayley lost the championship to Asuka, ending her reign at 223 days. After a brief hiatus from in-ring competition, Bayley returned on the May 18 episode after being challenged by Nia Jax to a match, in which she was defeated. After being replaced by Jax at due to a storyline injury which made her unable to compete in a rematch for the NXT Women's Championship against Asuka, Bayley made her return on the June 22 episode, where she defeated Deonna Purrazzo. On the July 27 episode, Bayley asked NXT general manager William Regal for a rematch against Asuka for the NXT Women's Championship at, which he granted. Two weeks later on the August 10 episode, a contract signing was held between both women, which they accepted and signed. At the event on August 20, Bayley failed to regain the title, in what was her final match in NXT.

Raw Women's Champion (2016–2017)

On July 24, at Battleground, Bayley made her WWE main roster and pay-per-view debut in a one-off appearance as Sasha Banks' mystery tag team partner, defeating Charlotte and Dana Brooke. 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 refused and instead forced protégé Brooke to face her, whom Bayley defeated. At Clash of Champions, Bayley was unsuccessful in winning the championship from Charlotte in a triple threat match, which also included Banks. Throughout this time, she entered a feud with Brooke and the two brawled and traded victories in matches. This culminated in a match at Hell in a Cell on October 30, which Bayley won. At Survivor Series on November 20, Bayley survived alongside Charlotte Flair as members of Team Raw, but as was attacked by Flair after the match.
On January 2, 2017, Bayley defeated Jax to become the number one contender for Flair's Raw Women's Championship. She challenged Flair at the Royal Rumble but was unsuccessful in capturing the title. She earned a rematch after she, Cesaro and Sheamus defeated Flair, Gallows and Anderson the next night on Raw, with Bayley pinning Flair. Two weeks later on the February 13 episode, Bayley defeated Flair in the main event to win the Raw Women's Championship after an assist from Banks. At Fastlane, Bayley retained the title against Charlotte thanks to a distraction from Banks and in turn gave Charlotte her first pay-per-view loss. At WrestleMania 33 in Bayley's WrestleMania debut, she retained the title against Charlotte, Banks and Jax in a fatal four-way elimination match. On April 30, Bayley dropped the title to Bliss at Payback, ending her reign at 76 days. She failed to regain the title in a kendo stick on a pole match at Extreme Rules on June 4. In July 2017, Bayley again became the number one contender for the championship and was slated to face Bliss at SummerSlam on August 20, but she suffered a separated shoulder injury which left her unable to perform. Bayley returned from her injury on the September 18 episode of Raw to help Banks fend off Bliss and Jax. At No Mercy six days later, she lost a fatal five-way match for the Raw Women's Championship.

The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (2017–2019)

On November 19, 2017, at Survivor Series, Bayley was again part of Team Raw in a five–on–five elimination tag team match, from which she was eliminated by Tamina. Towards the end of the year, Bayley, alongside Sasha Banks and Mickie James, started a feud with Absolution that led to various singles and tag team matches, mostly won by Absolution. On January 28, 2018, at the Royal Rumble, Bayley competed in the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match, entering at number 29, but was quickly eliminated by her best friend, Banks. A few weeks later, on February 25 at Elimination Chamber, Bayley took part in the first women's Elimination Chamber match, where she was eliminated by Alexa Bliss after Banks pushed her off a pod.
On the WrestleMania 34 kick-off show, Bayley competed in the inaugural WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal, where she got revenge by eliminating Banks, and was the last woman eliminated from the match by its winner, Naomi. On the March 26 episode of Raw, after weeks of animosity, including Bayley betraying Banks during their matches, Bayley and Banks brawled backstage and had to be separated. The two faced off in mid-April but their match ended in a no-contest after The Riott Squad interfered and attacked them both. Throughout mid-2018, Bayley and Banks continued to attack each other, and were told to attend counselor meetings to help maintain their friendship. In July, the two reconciled and created a tag team, known as The Boss 'n' Hug Connection. On February 17, 2019 at the Elimination Chamber, Bayley and Banks won the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Championship by lastly eliminating Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in a tag team Elimination Chamber match. They made their first successful title defense at Fastlane against Nia Jax and Tamina. At WrestleMania 35 on March 25, they lost the titles to The IIconics in a fatal four-way match, ending their reign at 49 days. On April 15, WWE released a video of Banks not returning Bayley's calls.

SmackDown Women's Champion (2019–present)

On April 16, Bayley was drafted to SmackDown brand as part of Superstar Shake-up, disbanding her team with the then-absent Sasha Banks, who remained on Raw. At The Shield's Final Chapter event, Bayley teamed with Ember Moon to defeat The Riott Squad. On May 19, at Money in the Bank, Bayley won the Money in the Bank ladder match, granting her a women's championship match at any time of her choosing. Later that same night, she would cash in her briefcase and defeated Charlotte Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Championship for the first time. The win made her the first WWE Women's Grand Slam winner in WWE history. Throughout June and July, Bayley feuded with Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, where she defeated Bliss once at Stomping Grounds, and she retained her title over Bliss and Cross in a handicap match at Extreme Rules. At SummerSlam, Bayley successfully defended the title against Ember Moon.
On the September 2 episode of Raw, Bayley turned heel for the first time in her WWE career by helping Sasha Banks to attack Becky Lynch. The following night on SmackDown Live, Bayley justified her assault on Lynch, explaining that she only helped Banks because of their friendship. Bayley successfully defended the title against Charlotte Flair at Clash of Champions after using an exposed turnbuckle, but lost the title to Flair at Hell in a Cell, ending her reign at 140 days. On the October 11 episode of SmackDown, Bayley debuted a new look, having cut off her ponytail and attacked the inflatable tube men during her entrance, then regained the championship from Flair again. She subsequently debuted new entrance music and verbally attacked the fans, and remained on SmackDown with her friendship with Sasha Banks.
At Survivor Series, Bayley faced Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch and NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler in a non-title triple threat match to determine the superior women's champion, which Baszler won. On the November 29 episode of SmackDown, she started a feud with Lacey Evans, after Bayley and Banks insulted the women of the SmackDown roster for their loss at Survivor Series, Evans then attacked Banks. At Royal Rumble on January 26, 2020, she successfully defended the title against Lacey Evans. On the following SmackDown, Bayley claimed that she had beaten every woman on the roster, and Naomi interrupted, taking exception to the claim as Bayley had never beaten her, thus beginning a feud. At Super ShowDown, Bayley defeated Naomi to retain the title. On the March 20 episode of SmackDown, Bayley and Banks came to the ring saying that they were going to skip WrestleMania 36 this year, but they were interrupted by Paige, who announced that Bayley would defend her title against Naomi, Lacey Evans, Dana Brooke, Tamina, and Sasha Banks in a six-pack elimination match at WrestleMania 36. At the event, Bayley retained the title after lastly pinning Evans. At Money in the Bank, Bayley retained the title against Tamina after a distraction from Banks.
On the June 5 episode of SmackDown, Bayley and Banks defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross to win the Women's Tag Team Championship for the second time, which also made Bayley a double champion. At The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, Bayley successfully defended the title against Nikki Cross.

Professional wrestling style and persona

When beginning her wrestling career, and in fact, for the vast majority of it, Martinez's character, Bayley, was depicted a "hugger" coming out with multiple inflatable skydancers during her entrances as well as hugging many fans in attendance She also earned the nickname "The Doctor of Hugonomics".
In the ring, Martinez utilizes her finisher of the belly-to-belly suplex calling it the Bayley-to-Belly Suplex. Since her heel turn, however, she has started using a old finisher from her Indy days called the Rose Plant on her opponents.
As of September 2, 2019, when Bayley turned heel for the first time in her career, she started with depicting a hypocritical persona, as she acted like nothing had changed, with her entrance music and in-ring gear remaining intact, despite developing villainous traits and underhanded tactics. On October 11, Bayley debuted a new look, having cut her ponytail off, destroying her inflatable tube men, and using profanity against the fans in her post-match promo.

Other media

Martinez is playable in four WWE video games, making her video game debut in WWE 2K17 and appearing again in WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19, and WWE 2K20.

Personal life

Martinez has a younger sister. She cites Randy Savage, The Rock, The Hardy Boyz, Lita, Rey Mysterio, John Cena, Eddie Guerrero, Ivory, Victoria, Bret Hart, Triple H, The Fabulous Moolah, and Trish Stratus as her influences in wrestling. Martinez is engaged to Aaron Solow, whom she met in 2010. She also owns a pogo stick that her mom got her when she was young. Martinez plans on opening her own wrestling school, once her in-ring career comes to a close.

Championships and accomplishments