Bayley on Coming Home for "Payback 2017"

Hey we want some hometown girl! Anyone who has ever heard Bayley’s ring introduction knows that she’s from San Jose, California. As luck would have it, that’s where “Payback 2017” is being held with Bayley as the Raw Women’s Champion. Bayley recently spoke with her hometown newspaper to talk about what it means to her to come home as champion.

Speaking with the San Jose Mercury News, Bayley spoke on a variety of topics related to coming home, including what got her hooked on wrestling in the first place and how important it is for her to be performing in front of her family and friends. Here are some highlights:

On Randy Savage Being An Early Inspiration

“I was just hooked by the sight of him, his natural charisma. And when I was 11, 12, then 13, I started realizing how obsessed I was.”

On Early Training Injuries and Hiding Them

“When I first started to learn to run the ropes, that was really painful for me, it’s just cable wire wrapped in tape. It bruised my ribs so bad, it hurt to be hugged, it hurt to lay down. To have bruises all over and still train and not tell anyone about it, I knew I must really like this to keep doing it.”

And on Wrestling on the Same Show as the Hardys

“It wasn’t until the next night on Raw, that I started getting emotional. I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m on the same tour with guys I was watching when I was 12 years old!’

You can read the full interview here.

Opinion: Normally I would say that this might be the night that gets Bayley to the next level but it’s becoming pretty clear that WWE isn’t about to let her be used the way she was down in NXT. Then again there’s such a different style on “Monday Night Raw” that there isn’t exactly a way to make it work that way.