The WWE used to be a male-dominated profession until the likes of Pamela Rose Martinez came into the picture and began to make waves under the ring name ‘Bayley’. The American professional wrestler began her journey into the World Wrestling Entertainment in 2013 but was only able to make it to its main roster in 2016. So far in the history of WWE, Bayley is the only woman to become a five-time women’s champion. She has also won Raw, NXT, Smackdown and Women’s Tag Team Championships over the course of her career.
She is additionally the first World Wrestling Entertainment Women’s Triple Crown and Grand Slam winner and is currently the longest-reigning SmackDown women’s champion. Unarguably, the WWE superstar is one of the most liked and followed female wrestlers of the century. Here are more facts to know about her.
The Early Beginnings Of Bayley’s Wrestling Career
At the age of eleven, Bayley fell in love with wrestling as she began attending shows organized by Big Time Wrestling in Northern California. Following her passion, she enrolled in professional wrestling classes at the Big Time Wrestling (BTW) also located in Califonia from 2008 to 2012. While undergoing rigorous training, the Californian-born athlete also participated in wrestling competitions. She equally joined the American independent circuit under the name Davina Rose.
Having gained all the training and experience she needed to pursue her wrestling career, Bayley decided to spread her tentacles further to other wrestling promotions such as the Pro Wrestling Destination, Shine Wrestling, and the NWA Championship Wrestling. She, however, met her mentor Serena Deeb in October 2010 and the following year, she debuted for Shimmer Women Athletes.
Unfortunately, she failed to win in all four matches she took part in during the Shimmer Volume 41-44. Then in 2012, she recorded her first win by defeating Melanie Cruise alongside her tag teammate, Mia Yim, on Shimmer Volume 48. She subsequently won two singles matches on Shimmer 51 and 52 by defeating Rhia O’Reilly and Cherry Bomb.
Bailey’s Rise To Stardom And Success
Martinez reportedly signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in December 2012 and in January 2013, she debuted officially as ‘Bayley’ for the WWE developmental territory, NXT, wearing a mask. Sadly, she failed to win her first televised NXT match against Paige. In August 2012, she lost to AJ Lee as she competed in the Divas championship. Then in the next month, Bayley claimed her first victory, having teamed up with Charlotte as they defeated Alicia Fox and Aksana.
She additionally made an attempt to win the NXT Women’s Championship in a four-way match at NXT TakeOver: Rival held the next year, but it was an unsuccessful attempt. 2014 started out quite on a bad note for the young athlete as she once again failed to make it to NXT Women’s Championship tournament; however, things turned around for her when she defeated Sasha Banks at the NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn and she became NXT Women’s Champion.
Returning on January 21, 2015, after recovering from a knee injury, Bayley competed with the likes of Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Nia Jax and Eva Marie, and she defeated them all. Unfortunately, her reign as the NXT Women’s Champion ended on April 1, 2015, at the NXT TakeOver: Dallas event where she was defeated by Japanese wrestler Asuka (Kanako Urai). Later in 2016, Bayley’s wrestling career took a progressive course, as she began emerging victorious in several matches.
In July 2016, she was debuted on the WWE main rooster and Pay-Per-View and thus, formed a partnership with Sasha Banks in a tag team, which they won. She then made her official Raw debut on August 22nd and recorded a victory against Brooke. Afterward, she took part in Raw’s Women’s Championship and became a No. 1 contender for the title after defeating Jax, but was unable to capture the title at the Royal Rumble.
However, on the February 13th episode, the highly skilled pro wrestler nabbed the Raw Women’s Championship title with the help of Sasha Banks, whom she later formed The Boss ‘n’ Hug connection team with, in July 2018. In the next year, Bayley alongside Banks defeated Fire & Desire – Mandy Rose and Sonya Seville – in a tag team Elimination Chamber match, as they clinched the WWE Women’s Tag Team championship.
Later in May 2019, Bayley contested in the Money in the Bank ladder match and emerged victoriously. As a result, she was granted a Women’s Championship match which took place the same night. She went on to become the first World Wrestling Entertainment’s Grand Slam winner, after scoring a victory over Charlotte Flair in the SmackDown Women’s Championship, that was held on the night she won Money in the Bank match.
Subsequently, Bayley has successfully retained her WWE SmackDown championship title after defeating Naomi at the Super Showdown held on February 27th, 2020. Similarly, in the next month, she successfully defended her title in a 6-Pack Elimination Match at WrestleMania 36, against the likes of Lacey Evans, Naomi, Tamina and Sasha Banks.
Following her astounding accomplishments over the course of her career, the professional wrestler was rated No. 8 alongside Sasha Banks on the 2019 Sports Illustrated Top 10 Women’s Wrestlers of the Year. She is additionally a recipient of notable awards like the NXT Year-End Award (2x), to name a few, thanks to her hard work and complete commitment to her profession.
Interesting Details About Her Family And Background
The professional wrestler has not yet opened up about members of her family but from what we could gather, her Mexican parents, especially her father helped to build her passion for wrestling since childhood. Her mother’s name is Ann B (née Martinez), she has two older siblings named Melissa and Brenda Marie. She equally has a younger brother named Manuel.
Information regarding what her siblings are doing at the moment hasn’t been made available on the media but it is believed they are leading private lives. Although her sister Brenda Marie is on Instagram, she has set her Instagram account to private. As such, nothing is known about her, as well as what she has been doing over the past years.
Concerning her early life, the professional wrestler is an American citizen, she was born in Newark, California, as Pamela Rose Martinez and her birthdate are June 15, 1989. Regarding her ethnicity, Bayley is reportedly multiracial; she is Latin American from her father’s side and Anglo-American from her mother’s side.
Bayley grew up a sports lover and in high school, she took part in various professional wrestling promotions around Northern California. While doing that, she also made her presence felt in her school’s basketball team and was even captain in her senior year. Bayley attended Independence High School which is located in San Jose, California.
What We Know About Bayley’s Personal Life
Bayley’s boyfriend is Aaron Solow, he is a professional wrestler best known for performing in the Independent Circuit. The two, who have been dating for many years, met for the first time at a wrestling training centre in California in the year 2010. Currently, they are engaged to get married soon.
Solow is known for his performance at Texas-based wrestling promotions – Anarchy Championship Wrestling and Laredo Wrestling Alliance. He has also performed with WWE’s developmental division, NXT. Although the two have been expected to sound a wedding bell since they got engaged in 2016, they are obviously taking their time, and have continued enjoying each other’s company which they value so much. However, distance has been a strong barrier to their ever blossoming love life.
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Regarding Bayley’s past relationship, the pro wrestler is said to have been romantically involved with CEO of PJA Advertising, Phil Johnson, who was cited as her ex-boyfriend on This Is Your Life Raw Segment hosted by Alexa Bliss in the year 2017.