The on-screen psychological collapse of Bayley has now spilled over into her social media presence. Following weeks of WWE airing vignettes showing a deep internal conflict, the former Women’s Champion has blacked out both her X and Instagram profiles. This move comes just as Raw General Manager Adam Pearce announced on September 1 that Bayley would be returning to the show “soon,” though she was absent from this week’s broadcast.
This entire storyline stems from a difficult summer for Bayley, who suffered a string of high-profile losses. Her downward spiral seemed to kick into high gear after failing to capture the Women’s Intercontinental Championship in a Triple Threat match at Evolution, which was followed by a decisive Two Out of Three Falls loss to her former partner, Lyra Valkyria, on the July 14 episode of Raw. Shortly after, she posted “Save me” to her Instagram story, mentioning she was undergoing therapy.
WWE began amplifying this narrative in August with a series of dark promos. One segment on August 11 showed a distraught Bayley blaming herself for her losses while trying to block out distorted voices. In subsequent weeks, vignettes depicted a literal battle in her mind between her former fan-favorite “Hugger” persona and her more recent “Role Model” gimmick, culminating in her screaming for the voices to stop.
The tension with Valkyria has been a central theme. During a backstage segment this week, Valkyria expressed concern for Bayley after speaking with Adam Pearce. Their partnership originally fractured around WrestleMania 41, when a backstage attack by Becky Lynch took Bayley out of their scheduled Women’s Tag Team Championship match. Lynch then stepped in to win the titles with Valkyria, only for them to lose the belts the very next night.
Despite her on-screen absence since a tag match in late July, Bayley has been active in non-televised matches. She competed in a dark match in early August and worked two live events on the “Road To Clash In Paris” tour against Valkyria, indicating she is physically cleared for the in-ring return that Adam Pearce has now confirmed is imminent.