JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – She has gone from one of the hottest stars in WWE to one of the hottest stars of all time. The icon Bayley joins us to discuss numerous things, including the WWE Holiday Tour. The tour stops in Jacksonville on Dec. 26 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Tickets are still available.
In this interview, I’m joined by Going Ringside regular guest Victoria Crawford, who wrestled in WWE under the name Alicia Fox and was one of Bayley’s first matches when she was in NXT.
Our interview came days after Bayley and her team were victorious in WWE WarGames, which is one of the most brutal matches in existence.
“I feel good,” she said while taking a much-needed rest from the road. “Luckily I didn’t have to go to Raw. I didn’t have to do like a Netflix appearance in L.A. I didn’t have to do that. So I got to stay home and lick my wounds.”
Another thing we asked about was the status of women’s wrestling since she was part of the legendary “Four Horsewomen” stable which consisted of Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch (Becky appeared way back on Going Ringside Ep 33).
“I mostly see maybe the impact that it made now in NXT,” where there are numerous female stars like Roxanne Perez, Kelani Jordan and Lola Vice (who have all appeared recently on Going Ringside).
But that wasn’t the case when she was starting out.
“But there was no presence of women in NXT at that time. So it’s not like we had anything to try to compare ourselves to,” Bayley said.
And among those younger wrestlers, one name that popped up in the interview when we asked Bayley about a dream match was NXT Champ Roxanne Perez.
“I guess I’ll go with Roxanne because she’s killing it as the NXT Women’s Champion,” said Bayley. “She’s so smooth, and I’m selfish because I know everyone wants to work with her.”
Coincidentally, on Going Ringside Episode 85, Perez said her dream match was with Bayley.
“I think at the very top of my list is Bayley,” said Perez. “I grew up watching her, idolizing her and she’s one of the first people that when I came in here and I told her, I actually met her when I was 15 years old at a random independent wrestling show and I told her that I want to be a part of it one day.”
But Perez is not the only young wrestler Bayley has influenced. There’s also Izzy Moreno, another up-and-coming independent wrestler that Bayley made an impression on.
“It’s so crazy. The NXT girls knowing who we were is crazy. But seeing her start to do shows and win championships. I get a few girls in my meet-and-greets like this chick named Becca Wiley. She just gave me one of her shirts. There’s a bunch of girls that I remember just sitting outside to meet us and now they’re wrestling themselves. And I think that is beautiful,” said Bayley. “I always wanted to make girls feel the way I felt being in the crowd. And the fact that it’s all coming together just makes me excited for the future.”