Moments before her return, Bayley had butterflies in her stomach. No matter how many years of experience she had, she knew occasions like this would always make her feel the same way. There were always the same concerns to worry about. Was her knee really fully healed? Was the creative good enough? Were the fans going to buy into her as a babyface? The answers to the latter two questions would start coming very soon.
Becky Lynch was out in the ring. Having successfully defended her Smackdown Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble, and with the women's rumble match having been won by Rhea Ripley of the Raw roster, Becky was currently lined up to take her title into Wrestlemania, but didn't have a challenger.
It had taken a while, but Becky was now firmly established as an arrogant, hated heel. One of her character's main boasts was that she had been a champion every day she had worked since Wrestlemania 35. That fact remained true, and now she was fresh off the back of a pay-per-view victory over Sasha Banks.
"Last Sunday, The Man came around to the Royal Rumble," Becky said. "And I did exactly what I said I was going to do. I bashed Sasha Banks' head in and retained the Smackdown Women's Championship."
The fans booed, not that it bothered Becky at all.
"You can boo all you want. You can say whatever you want. Facts are facts, and the fact is I've never spent a day in WWE without a title since Wrestlemania 35. I have proven that I am the best Smackdown Women's Champion of all time."
Booing started once more as Becky raised her title belt in the air. But then Bayley's music started to play - a new edit with the chanting intro reduced in length – and the crowd went crazy.
Behind the curtain, Bayley felt chills. She had only gotten a pop like this a handful of times in her career to date. It was a good sign for her babyface turn for sure.
The new Bayley stepped through the curtain, into the raucous arena. She was wearing blue jeans and a black leather jacket, with a red top underneath that showed some cleavage. It was a new casual but sexy look, which had been Seth's style suggestion for the babyface tweak of her role model character. She felt comfortable with it, and thought it looked good. Right now though, with everyone on their feet, cheering and screaming, she didn't imagine they cared much about her outfit. All that mattered to them was that Bayley was back, and coming to confront Becky Lynch.
Walking down the ramp, Bayley made sure to keep the same role model swagger and not to acknowledge the cheers of the fans. The idea was for the only changes to her character to be no longer insulting the fans, and to wrestle heels instead of babyfaces. The immense respect that pretty much everyone, it seemed, had for her work had been enough to push WWE into having her make the face turn. Now that same dynamic would work to keep pushing it forward, or so she hoped.
The walk to the ring was one that she wouldn't forget for some time. Realistically, she probably didn't have too many years left at the top, she was well aware. Moments like this were to be treasured.
With the fans still going nuts, Bayley got into the ring and ignored Becky while she went to fetch a microphone. Only once she had one did she look at the champion, who appeared distinctly displeased with the big return, and its implications. She didn't get a chance to speak yet, for the crowd broke into a 'Bayley!' chant. She didn't do anything to acknowledge it, other than wait and allow it fade on its own.
The chant did eventually die down, allowing her the chance to talk. "It's been a while," was her opener, drawing another loud cheer. "It was my knee that was busted up, not my ears. They work fine. And Becky, I just heard you out here calling yourself the best Smackdown Women's Champion of all time." She brought back her familiar catchphrase, with its accompanying gestures. "Ding dong! Hello? Everyone knows who the best ever Smackdown Women's Champion is. Everyone knows who has the longest ever reign with that championship. Everyone knows who the role model is."
The fans popped for each of her talking points. Unsurprisingly, Becky was a lot less enthusiastic about them.
"Calm down, peg leg. You last won a title in what, 2019? Before you stupidly injured yourself, you spent how many months getting your arse kicked by Esther? And I beat her in twenty six seconds. What does that say about you?"
"Shut your mouth you stupid idiot," Bayley snapped, making the fans cheer again. "You can talk all the trash you want, but have you got the guts to fight me for that, tonight?" she asked, pointing at the title that was sitting over Becky's shoulder.
"Oh, I'll fight you for it," Becky said in a feisty tone. "But not tonight," she added after a moment, dropping her mic and quickly leaving the ring. Boos rained down on her from the crowd.
"Actually... Actually, Becky..." It was Sonya Deville, walking out onto the stage. She was booed because she was now seen as a heel through her rivalry with Naomi. But on this occasion she had some good news to give out, from the fans' point of view. "Actually, Becky, you will. That's right, you will defend the Smackdown Women's Championship in tonight's main event, against Bayley. And it will be a no disqualification match."
"What? Have you lost your mind?" Becky protested loudly over the cheer from the crowd.
The segment came to an end with Sonya's music playing and Bayley mouthing off at Becky from the ring.
Competing in the main event on her first night back meant a lot of pressure, Bayley supposed. But at this point in her career she didn't feel pressure. She just went out and did what she enjoyed, and what she was so good at. This night was no different. As the match went on, her only concern was how her knee would hold up. Happily, it was totally fine.
Another positive was that the fans continued to strongly support her, as they had done early in the night. She was indeed over as a babyface, at least with this crowd.
The match wasn't booked to be too long, coming in at about ten minutes. It was a good enough length to test the knee and give it a good workout, but not enough to push it too hard.
To start the finishing sequence, Bayley became the first person to kick out of Becky's Manhandle Slam, otherwise known as the Rock Bottom. That got her another nice crowd pop to add to the night's collection.
Irate that she hadn't gotten a three count, Becky got up and remonstrated with the referee, insisting that it should have been three.
Her loss of concentration gave Bayley a chance get up and come at her behind to hit a new addition to her move set: a dragon suplex. The impact left Becky holding the back of her head as she started getting up.
Bayley was on her quickly, grabbing her from behind again and hitting the Rose Plant. The fans popped again, hoping they might be about to see a title change as she made a cover.
"One!"
"Two!"
Just when the referee was about to count three, he slid backwards out of the ring, with someone pulling him by the ankle. The crowd were shocked, then started booing when they saw who was responsible. It was Sasha Banks, who had essentially just stolen the Smackdown Women's Championship from Bayley.
Eyes wide, Bayley got up, livid with Sasha. The two women locked eyes, and Bayley dared her to come into the ring and fight. Sasha acted like she was up for it, and got up onto the apron. The two women started trading punches, which ordinarily would have been a disqualification, but there was no such rule in this match. The referee merely got back into the ring.
Bayley's punches got the better of Sasha's, and The Boss was knocked off the apron. But before Bayley could turn around, Becky came at her and rolled her up into a pinning combination from behind.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
It was the cheapest of cheap victories. As soon as the count was made, Becky fled from the ring. Sasha had also quickly retreated, heading out through the crowd. There was no one for Bayley to take her frustration out on, but the look in her eyes as the show went off the air perfectly conveyed that she intended to get payback somewhere down the road, sooner rather than later.
"How are you feeling?" Seth asked later that evening, once they were settled in their hotel room, after eating a very enjoyable dinner in the hotel's restaurant. They were relaxing together on the double bed.
"Sore, but it's fine. I'm going to get sore all over, I can tell. Remarkable how much it hits you when it's been a long time since you've wrestled."
"Yep, it'll be a few weeks before you return to full fitness. I've been there myself after my bad knee injury. You've got to keep up with the physio work on the knee, that's the most important thing. I'll help you do it in the morning if you like."
"Would you? You're the best. I was thinking we could go into Des Moines on Monday and start our search for a location for the coffee shop?"
"That sounds like a plan. If we get out early we can have a full day at it if we need to."
Bayley moved closer to him and kissed him. "It's been a rough few months, but right now I'm really happy."
"Yeah, it was. All of the travelling without you was awful. Hoping not to have to go through that again. But like you said, I'm happy now too."
"I'll do my best to make sure you don't have to travel alone," she promised him. "Wrecking my knee isn't on my priority list. In fact, right now I have only one priority."
She started kissing the side of his neck, and that told him exactly what her priority was. Kissing and nibbling his neck, or sometimes outright biting it, was something she liked to do during their lovemaking.
"I feel like you're going to start biting me," he said. It wasn't a complaint. In fact he was already starting to get hard thanks to the sensations that her kisses were creating. She had long since established exactly how and where to do it to make it enjoyable for him.
Bayley spent a minute or two kissing him, just enough for him to start getting into it, before she pulled away. "Lie back and relax, honey."
Honey was an affectionate nickname that she had started using after their marriage. Seth wasn't even sure if she was aware of that or not. Either way, he liked it. Personally, he would always stick with the first nickname he had come up with for her, way back when they had first starting dating. Angel was what she would always be to him, even when she showed a bit of a devil inside her, which he imagined was what she was about to do now, as he fulfilled her request to lie down.
"After last night, I came prepared for tonight. I could hardly let you tying me up like that go unanswered," Bayley said, moving over to one of her two travel cases.
"I didn't think you would," Seth said calmly from the bed. He actually remembered thinking exactly that at the time.
Bayley unzipped one of the side compartments on her case and pulled out some black nitrile gloves.
"You actually brought gloves with you for sex?" Seth commented from the bed.
"Don't act like it's the first time. Or the last. And while we're on the subject, you really should take me to Ann Summers or something and see what sexy gloves they have."
"Hey, that's an idea. A perfect gift for someone who doesn't have a glove fetish, or OCD about her hands." Seth took great pleasure in needling her, knowing it would only fire her up.
"Shut it, you," Bayley said. Having worked her hands into the gloves, she pounced on the bed and clamped a hand over his mouth – her favourite turn on.
"Mmmmm," Seth moaned, knowing that she enjoyed that too.
"No point trying to talk now. You're going to have to be quiet while I sink my teeth into you, and after that give you one of the world's best hand jobs."
Yes, Seth thought, he could live with that.
A/N: What did you make of Bayley's return to Smackdown?
Next time, Seth and Bayley search for a location for their coffee shop project. Will they find somewhere suitable?