8 months ago
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On night two of WWE WrestleMania 40, "The Role Model" Bayley was pitted against her former Damage CTRL stable IYO SKY, who entered the big event as WWE Women's Champion. After 14 minutes of competition, though, it was Bayley who walked out with the championship, marking her first world title reign in over three years. While speaking with ESPN, two of Bayley's colleagues — Charlotte Flair and CM Punk — shared their reactions to seeing her dethrone SKY on "The Grandest Stage of Them All."
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"I think Bayley stole the show," said CM Punk. "I left this place 10 years ago because I had to for a lot of reasons. But I was so excited about the crop of talent that was in NXT, [Charlotte], Bayley, Becky [Lynch], countless talents that I was excited to wait and get called up to the main roster ... I was there live at the Royal Rumble to watch Bayley win a Royal Rumble and now I got to watch her win a title in her first singles match at WrestleMania. I am grateful for the opportunity to just be a witness."
For Charlotte Flair, Bayley's win is proof that hard work and dedication do pay off, and that sometimes, the "good guys" can rise to the top. "She's been the backbone, the heartbeat, never wavered," said Flair. "Sometimes [she] put herself last, and to see her have this big win at Wrestlemania 40 and the audience, if you didn't notice, were singing for her the entire time. I was just sitting there like 'Man, the good guys do finish on top of the end.' I couldn't have been [more] proud of her."
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Flair and Bayley are no strangers to one another, as they each signed to the company in 2012. Over the next four years, Flair and Bayley emerged as prominent figures on the "WWE NXT" brand, before moving to WWE's main roster in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The two later shared the ring on the stage of WrestleMania 33, as Bayley successfully defended the "WWE Raw" Women's Championship against Flair, Sasha Banks, and Nia Jax.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ESPN with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
