Bayley On Getting Her Ring Name, Which NXT Stars Have Impressed Her, Nickname With Sasha Banks
Recently on Talk Is Jericho, NXT's Bayley was a guest on the podcast. Among other things, Bayley discussed how she got her WWE/NXT ring name, who has impressed her from NXT's Women's Division, and the nickname she and Sasha Banks had for themselves in FCW.
According to Bayley, who performed as Davina Rose on the independent circuit, WWE would not let her use that name in WWE. Instead, she gave WWE officials a list of names she would like to use for her WWE character and WWE came back with a list of three names from which she could choose.
"I was throwing out [unisex] names like Bobby or Jordan and something like that because I was like, 'well, I don't want it to be super girly' like I don't want to be Patricia or something. I don't know if that's girly? Jennifer! And Bailey was one of them and that was like the last one I wanted. I did not want that name and they gave me three choices. I forgot what the other one was, but one of them was Davia, which was not Davina. I was like, 'are you guys missing the N?' [They replied] 'no, Davia'. That's not even a name! So I was like, 'I guess I'll just go with Bailey'."
Bayley continued, "but Bailey, it was with an I. And I was like, 'okay, I'll choose this' because I was ready to send in another list of names because I was just not happy. I was like, 'okay, if I choose this one, I have to spell it B-A-Y because I'm from the bay area'. I thought I was so cool! I was like, 'it has to mean something to me!' So then, I went with that. Now I love it!"
Bayley said the NXT Women's Division is in good hands even if she gets called up to WWE Monday Night RAW or WWE SmackDown Live in the near future because of all of the hard working women that are in NXT now.
"Peyton Royce who's from Australia. She [has] had a few matches on NXT, but I think once she starts going, she's like? I kind of compare her to Sasha and that might be a huge thing to say, but her style, and the way she carries herself, everything. She's going to be amazing. There's Liv Morgan and Aliyah, who'd been here for a while and they work so hard, going to extra training all the time. Same with who [Jericho] just saw out there, Daria and Mandy Rose, who came from Tough Enough, so you're never too sure how people from there are going to work out, but they're two of my favorites right now because everyday they're in extra training and they've been progressing like crazy."
The former NXT Women's Champion divulged that she and Banks used to call themselves 'The Average Janes' when they were in FCW together.
"I love Sasha. I think she's the best ever." Bayley continued, "when we were still training in FCW, we used to call ourselves 'The Average Janes' because this was before she was 'The Boss' and before I was Bayley. We were just these indie chicks that loved wrestling and we're like, 'man, we're not models, we're not bodybuilders, we ain't nothing! We're just average Janes!'"
To check out the show, click here. If you use any of the quote that appear in this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Talk Is Jericho