Asuka wants Bayley to stop playing nice and remind everyone of who she is.
After winning the 2024 Royal Rumble and capturing the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 40, it was a shock that Bayley was nowhere to be seen only a year later at WrestleMania 41.
The omission was even stranger because the star seemed set to team with Lyra Valkyria to challenge for the Women’s Tag Team Titles on the Grandest Stage of Them All, only to be written off the show by an onscreen attack the day before the match was scheduled to happen.
In a recent appearance on Six Feet Under, the star admitted to The Undertaker that missing the event was “rough,” especially since she and Valkyria had put in the work on the road to WrestleMania.
Someone who picked up on the interview was Asuka, who has a long history with Bayley stretching back to their time in NXT and the Women’s Revolution in WWE. In a new video on her YouTube channel, KanaChan TV, the star spoke about her empathy for Bayley’s situation.
“An interview with Bayley came up on my X feed. I just found out about her sadness, her struggle, and her pain. And it hit me. I remembered,” she noted. “The format of today’s women’s division – the value everyone treats as standard – that was built by the Four Horsewomen and by me.”
“We’ve got pride. Of course we do. And right now, the ones who can understand Bayley’s pain the most are probably Charlotte, Becky and me. Our era didn’t just raise the level. We flipped the entire idea of what a women’s division could be. We started a revolution.”
Asuka went on to tell the 5-time Women’s Champion that she wanted to see her stop accepting the treatment she was being given.
“Bayley, when you and I first met, you were the NXT Champion, and I was the challenger. And I took the title from you and I carried NXT on my back. Then you went to the main roster, and you became one of the pillars there too. After that, I arrived. We fought at the top. We survived at the top. We became the standard of the company. We are not just wrestlers. We are an era. We changed the division.”
“You’re accepting treatment that doesn’t match what you are. Don’t swallow it. This isn’t only your problem. It’s an insult to our pride – the pride of everyone who fought beside you and against you. It’s an insult to the status we built with our own hands.”
“Make Them Remember What You’ve Done” – Asuka Sends A Message To Bayley
Asuka said she couldn’t accept the way Bayley has been treated, and called on her to stop “playing safe.”
“As someone who has shared that time with you, I can’t accept it. Bayley. Stop playing nice. Look at Kairi. Playing nice is boring. Playing safe is boring. Go off! Shout it. ‘Do you know who I am? I’m Bayley!’ Make them remember what you’ve done – what we’ve done. We changed this division. We made it.”
“So remind them. Loudly. All of them. Get louder. Get sharper. Let that fire show in the ring. And make them feel it. The weight we built with our lives. The pain we paid to make this division what it is. Right now. Make them remember.”
Currently, Bayley is once again teaming with Valkyria as they look to defeat Asuka and Kairi Sane, The Kabuki Warriors, for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. Recently, the star opened up about her plans for after wrestling, saying she hopes to help elevate younger talent.
H/T to F4WOnline for the above transcription.
