Bayley went back to where her wrestling journey started, and the moment clearly hit her harder than she expected. The WWE star returned to Big Time Wrestling for its 30th anniversary show on October 18 and ended the night fighting back tears as the crowd welcomed her home.
Bayley wasn’t originally there to wrestle, but she still found her way into the action. She became the impromptu special guest referee for Aaron Solo’s match against Starboy Charlie and ended up playing a pretty important role in the finish.
Things got messy when Solo tried to use his championship belt against Charlie. Bayley wasn’t having any of it and stopped Solo from using the title, giving Charlie the opening he needed to turn things around.
Charlie then caught Solo and connected with his moonsault to pick up the victory. That left Bayley right in the middle of the celebration, but what happened after the match ended up being the more personal part of her return.
Bayley grabbed the microphone as fans started chanting “Welcome back” at her. The reaction clearly got to her, and she admitted she was trying her best not to start crying in front of everybody.
“I get too emotional — I don’t wanna cry in front of you guys. Thank all of you for coming out tonight. This is a very, very special show tonight.”
There was a pretty good reason the night meant so much to Bayley. Long before WWE fans knew her by that name, Big Time Wrestling was one of the places where her career first started taking shape. Bayley’s first recorded wrestling appearance came for BTW on September 19, 2008, in Newark, California. Wrestling as Davina Rose, she teamed with Shane Ballard in a losing effort against Melissa Coates and Shannon Ballard.
Nearly two decades later, Bayley got to walk back into the promotion as one of WWE’s biggest names and hear the same local crowd welcome her home. She didn’t need a match of her own to make the return special, as getting emotional in the ring showed just how much coming back to BTW still meant to her.
What did you think about Bayley’s emotional return to Big Time Wrestling after starting her career there all those years ago? Let us know in the comments below.
