Two months after having her last match on television, Bayley made her way back on WWE Raw during the latest September 15 episode. Initially intending to unleash her heel side on her former tag team partner, she has seemingly embraced the babyface persona, bringing back the Hugger gimmick from almost a decade ago.
On the September 15 episode of WWE Raw, Roxanne Perez defeated Lyra Valkyria in a singles contest, handing back-to-back losses to the latter. After the match, Roxanne and Raquel Rodriguez attacked Valkyria, which led to Bayley making her return to save Lyra.
At first, it seemed like Bayley was also going to attack Valkyria, too, but her mood switched, and she ran out of the ring to hug everyone. It appeared that she was fighting the voices she’s been hearing in her head, as portrayed in the past episodes of WWE Raw. Valkyria backed away from her as her celebration continued all around the ring.
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It looks like a crazy version of Bayley’s old hugger character will be further showcased in due weeks. As such, she cheerfully got out of the ring and hugged WWE Raw commentators Joe Tessitore and Corey Graves, on commentary, before embracing ring announcer Alicia Taylor. She also greeted a few fans at ringside, as well as the referee Jessika Carr and a security guard, before heading backstage.
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WWE Raw: Bayley’s new gimmick compared to Hall of Famer
Absent from live television, Bayley could only be seen through various video vignettes on WWE Raw, where she seemed to fight an internal struggle between her heel and babyface sides. Previously, she missed SummerSlam and WrestleMania, the two biggest WWE events of this year, before resurfacing as The Hugger from WWE NXT and early main roster days.
Bayley’s absence from WWE Raw began after her unsuccessful pursuit of the Women’s Intercontinental Championship. While discussing her character shift, veteran Tommy Dreamer recently compared the WWE star’s new gimmick to that of a Hall of Famer.
“If there’s anybody who had a reason to turn, it was Bayley. And she said she’s gonna do right. I’m watching this and I would be like, my god, they could do Three Faces of Bayley. The only person great enough to pull that off was Mick Foley,” Dreamer said on Busted Open Radio.