WWE/AEW fic: Today I Saw the Whole World
Title: Today I Saw the Whole World | AO3
Author:
merryghoul
Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment, All Elite Wrestling
Word Count: 6587
Rating: Teen
Warnings: none. Fic does contain insults Bayley in character uses against her opponents that some may find ableist.
Summary: After losing to Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell 2019, Bayley only wants to find her friend Sasha Banks. Instead, she finds herself at NXT months into the future. A woman claiming to be Bayley, but from the future, is her guide. And now she has to fight Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship.
This is the start to Bayley’s no good, horrible, very bad time-fixing adventure.
Characters: a lot of Bayleys, Shayna Baszler, Dakota Kai, Britt Baker, two versions of Sasha Banks
Relationships: a little Sasha Banks/Bayley, alternate timeline Shayna Baszler/Dakota Kai
Title from the Pierce the Veil song.
Hell in a Cell, October 6, 2019
Sacramento, CA
Bayley stood up and started walking up the entrance ramp after throwing her tantrum. The crowd's reaction was mixed; some people were telling her she shouldn't be sad about her loss to Charlotte and some people were booing her. Some people were yelling "Yow-Ie Wow-Ie;" they wanted to see The Fiend instead of Bayley's moping. Bayley kept walking up the ramp. Dude, what's happening? I gotta get backstage. I need to find Sasha.
Bayley walked backstage. It wasn't the backstage she was expecting.
Full Sail University
December 18, 2019
Backstage seemed familiar to Bayley but in a different way. This wasn't backstage at a Raw and SmackDown pay-per-view. No, she was at NXT, at Full Sail. And she was about to go out to face someone.
A monitor nearby flickered on. Snow appeared on the monitor. A woman who looked like Bayley appeared on screen. But this Bayley was wearing a black turtleneck. Her hair was shorter and black than Bayley's hair, but it was wavier. This Bayley's eye makeup reminded Bayley of the Eye of Horus tattoo on the back of her neck. Behind this Bayley were pictures of this Bayley. Some of the photos behind this Bayley presumably showed this Bayley in action in the ring. Others showcased this Bayley's titles, the Women's Tag Team Championship and the Smackdown Women's Championship. Sometimes this Bayley wore both titles at the same time. Some of these Bayleys wore colored crop tops and tights. Bayley looked down at her gear. Some of the Bayleys wore gear similar to the one Bayley wore in the NXT gorilla in that moment.
"Hey Bayley," this Bayley said to Bayley. "It's me, Bayley."
Bayley squinted at this Bayley. Something subconsciously told Bayley to call this Bayley "Turtleneck Bayley" as if there were more Bayleys to come from...somewhere.
"No, I'm you! I don't know why this happened to us. Someone is messing with my past. That's you. And they're messing with my future. That's me. I'm going to find the idiot that's trying to not make me relevant. I found this video package for this match you're about to fight. Maybe I can give you some tips."
The snow faded and the video package played on the monitor.
"Our main event this evening is a highly anticipated bout between two of NXT's most decorated competitors," Mauro Ranello said in the video package's voiceover. "The longest reigning NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler and WWE Women's Grand Slam Champion, former NXT, Raw, SmackDown and Women's Tag Team Champion Bayley." The Bayley in the video package looked a lot like how Bayley currently looked and what Turtleneck Bayley looked like.
After Ranello's introduction, the video package started with Bayley losing at Hell in a Cell, which was the last thing she wanted to rewatch at the moment. The video package went back to NXT, where Bayley saw this Other Bayley attack a woman with brown hair and blonde highlights wearing a white jacket and a nose ring in her left nostril. Mauro reacted with disgust at Other Bayley throwing the brown haired-woman, Dakota Kai, into steel stairs. "That's no way to treat a woman who spent nine months working to come back to NXT," Mauro continued, referring to Kai. A post from Kai's Instagram account, where Kai talked about her ACL injury and her impending surgery at the time of the post, appeared on the screen.
Shayna, wearing her black jacket and her sunglasses on her head, walked out onto the Full Sail stage and applauded Other Bayley for the attack. Other Bayley looked into Shayna's eyes. It felt like Shayna didn't entirely approve of the attack but went with the attack anyway. The video cut to Other Bayley and Shayna shaking hands at ringside before showing clips of Bayley during her first stint at NXT. "Why would the former Hugger, a hero to many at NXT, make an alliance with the Queen of Spades?" Mauro asked in a voiceover.
Next were clips from Survivor Series 2019. Other Bayley lead Team NXT to victory while Shayna was able to beat Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte in a triple threat match. Then there were clips from NXT's first-ever WarGames match. Shayna recruited Other Bayley for her WarGames team; this was announced on the social media show The Bump. "I picked Bayley because I feel I can trust her, you know?" Shayna said to the hosts of The Bump. "I actually know her unlike those losers on Rhea's team." Shayna snorted, knowing full well Rhea Ripley was also on the show at the same time.
During a climatic moment in the WarGames match, Other Bayley handcuffed Shayna's right hand to one side of the WarGames cage. She straddled Shayna's left arm, grabbing it with her left hand so Shayna couldn't try to wriggle free. She used her right hand to push Shayna's head into the mat. A voiceover from Beth Phoenix said "Bayley brought back the Rose Plant to betray Shayna." The arm trap headlock driver Other Bayley did on Shayna was the Rose Plant. Bayley used to do the Rose Plant before she came to WWE and initially while she was training at the Performance Center. She named the driver after herself; Rose was her middle name. Dusty Rhodes himself said that someone as kind as Bayley shouldn't do the Rose Plant; as a result, she stopped doing that driver for years. Dude, how'd I...she get so mean? she thought.
Next was a clip from an episode of NXT. Rhea walked towards the ring, hoping to challenge Shayna for the NXT Women's Championship. Other Bayley threw Rhea into the ring stairs. She then pulled a toolbox from underneath the ring and hit Rhea's legs with the toolbox itself and whatever she could pull out of the toolbox. Other Bayley rolled into the ring. "Hey Shayna! You and me. Two weeks from now on NXT. The NXT Women's Championship. Say yes, Shayna."
Shayna walked onto the Full Sail entrance ramp, raising her title. She was yelling at Other Bayley, seemingly accepting Other Bayley's challenge. The video package ended. Snow and then Turtleneck Bayley appeared. "Dude, you're really not supposed to be here. This is a reality created by Shayna and Dakota."
"What?"
"It's a Shayna and Dakota I don't know personally, dude."
"We know Shayna and Dakota. I haven't fought them yet."
"Duh, I know that! But the two of them in this reality are wrestlers and time-manipulators in love. Sometime in their future these two were disappointed they both didn't win the NXT Women's Championship before leaving NXT. So they created a reality where Shayna still had those long title reigns in NXT but Dakota won the championship after Shayna. Then they both went to the main roster. This Bayley you're dressed up as invaded their reality. How? I don't know. Maybe this Bayley's a time manipulator too. This Shayna's playing along. This Dakota on the other hand is pissed. And this Bayley's a coward that don't want to face Shayna even if Shayna will always at least attempt to choke us out. Maybe she found out about the time manipulator thing and then bailed and hired you to clean up the mess. In a way. But I'm not going to have that Bayley ruin the both of us. So I'm going to find that idiot Bayley while you have to string together the mess she made and try not to get kicked in the head by Dakota. Then I'll come get you and make ourselves whole again, or something. Got it?"
"I do. I only trust you because you're me and if you weren't me, I'd hug you and pretend you weren't crazy. But how do I fight Shayna?"
"I thought about it. I'm not sure still, dude. I'm always running away from her or she's choking me out."
"Shayna's not on SmackDown."
"Yet. She found a way. NXT were invited to Survivor Series in 2019. Dude, Shayna's going to find you and choke you out on SmackDown and at Survivor Series. And when she wraps your arms around your neck in the main event of Survivor Series in 2019? It's all so Shayna can intimidate Becky. I'm warning you.
"Shayna ended up on Raw after leaving NXT. She mostly kept choking me out when I visited Raw. I kinda won against her once by disqualification but I solidified a tag partnership with Nia Jax. I made the situation worse!"
"Nia Jax?”
"I know. But one day Shayna doesn't choke you out. You'll understand later." Turtleneck Bayley sighed. "I don't have a strategy. Dude, just slam her arms around a lot. Don't let her put you in the Kirafuda Clutch. You know, when she's trying to choke you. And hit her with the Rose Plant. I gotta go and you gotta go out." The monitor went back to snow again before shutting off.
Bayley was used to hearing the EDM-ish strains of "Turn It Up." This rock-themed entrance theme nearly threw her off-guard. She walked out of gorilla.
This new Bayley persona didn't have or need the Bayley Buddies. She felt slowly walking out on the Full Sail entrance ramp was enough. After a few seconds walking out on the stage and looking at the Full Sail crowd, she felt she needed to scream out over her music: "It's gonna be my title again. Shayna two time? No, it's Bayley two time when I beat that stupid Kirafuda Clutch!" She stepped onto the ring apron and gave a thumbs down to the booing audience before stepping into the ring and moving to her corner. Bayley's new attitude surprised her, but she tried not to show it.
A song began with a horse's whinny before moving to a weird shuffling noise and then a rock theme. Shayna's entrance irritated Bayley: her entrance theme, the leg movements on to the stage, the hand gesture she made that looked like a spade, the air punching. And what the hell is that towel for? You're not Samoa Joe, idiot! Wait, dude, stop sounding mean in your head!
Bayley waited for Shayna to enter the ring and for the ring announcer to announce Shayna and her to the audience. The crowd didn't like Shayna, but they booed her less than Bayley. Bayley shrugged the booing off.
Bayley locked up with Shayna, looking to where the ring posts were. She started off attempting to slam Shayna into one of the ring posts, but Shayna overpowered her. Bayley backed into a corner and moved just in time to have Shayna run into the post. That was the opening Bayley needed. She pinned Shayna, knowing it wouldn't be enough. Bayley then took control of the match, slamming Shayna into the mat and ring posts. She stretched out Shayna's arms to make sure Shayna couldn't lock in the Kirafuda Clutch. Bayley knew she wouldn't be able to block everything Shayna did. Shayna's knee to Bayley's face was a reminder of that. But, as she told the audience, she was there to beat the Kirafuda Clutch. Shayna's other strikes weren't a part of a deal.
Then it felt like Shayna disappeared, as if Bayley and the referee were alone in the ring. Shayna sped up behind Bayley to attempt the Kirafuda Clutch. Bayley's strategy worked; Shayna couldn't lock in the Kirafuda Clutch. Bayley broke out of the Clutch. She wrapped her legs around Shayna's left arm and pushed her face to the mat. Shayna was out. Bayley pinned her.
The referee awarded Bayley Shayna's belt as the Full Sail crowd jeered her. Bayley headed back to gorilla, leaving a frustrated Shayna sitting and leaning on on the ropes facing the entrance ramp, her hands in her head.
Backstage Dakota stared at Bayley as if she ended NXT for good. Bayley knew this Dakota was still irritated by this, uh...Bayley of Spades. That's what I'll call her. Bayley knew Dakota was still irritated by Bayley of Spades attacking her a few weeks back. The staring didn't last long, however, as Dakota's stare and the jeering NXT audience faded away.
WWE Raw
September 2, 2019
Stepping back into gorilla at Madison Square Garden for Raw stunned Bayley. She was just here a few months ago! Was she stepping into her past?
She looked around her waist. No. She was wearing the Women's Tag Team Championship. If this really was her past, she'd be wearing the SmackDown Women's Championship. Sasha's and her sideplate were on her belt, the way Sasha and she requested their plates to be placed on their belts. And Bayley's sideplate was red and had her Hugger Little Miss-like logo, not the black sideplate with the stencil font she saw on the Bayleys behind Turtleneck Bayley. But Bayley did find it weird not having the SmackDown Women's Championship around her waist with her Hugger sideplates.
A monitor flickered on. It was Turtleneck Bayley. "We got another Bayley idiot messing with our timeline, again."
"Really?"
"Sorry, dude."
"I think this time this Bayley's about to jeopardize her wrestling career because she doesn't realize the fans don't care about her and Sasha certainly doesn't care about her. The only person I can trust is myself."
"How do you know Sasha doesn't care about us?"
"I know, okay? She claims she cared about us and she cared about our relationship, but she went after what was ours as if she never cared."
"What was 'ours?'"
"The SmackDown Women's Championship."
"Oh." Bayley was still confused but didn't want to press the issue further with Turtleneck Bayley.
"This is a timeline where Sasha and you didn't lose the Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35. She didn't take a hiatus, and instead of you becoming SmackDown Women's Champion, you stayed a tag champion."
"Wait, who won Money in the Bank?"
"Ember Moon. She went to SmackDown during the Superstar Shake-Up. Then she won Money in the Bank and cashed in on Charlotte to win the SmackDown Women's Championship. She's still on SmackDown unlike this Bayley here."
"Dude, I wanted to help establish the tag belts. I couldn't do it without Sasha around."
"You get to do that in the future! But don't you get that Sasha's using you? She's using you to bolster her own career. That's what this Bayley didn't get. This Bayley's fine wrestling the IIconics and the SummerSlam pre-show and getting all sad about Team Kick unable to challenge them because of Dakota's ACL tear, but she can't see Sasha getting ready to throw a tantrum because she can't have the Raw Women's Championship again. Until it's too late. This looks like, to you, the day you refused to let anyone get in your way to be a champion. This is actually the 'too late' for this Bayley, which is why this particular sheep fled. She didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings when she should've hurt everyone's feelings. You'll see. Sasha's leaving gorilla now. I gotta go."
Sasha's entrance music played. Bayley noticed it was the old version of Sasha's theme, not the remix with her cousin Snoop Dogg rapping a verse on her music. Sasha left gorilla. Along with her belt, she wore her ring gear--it was the ring gear that combined what they both wore at the first Takeover: Brooklyn--instead of Sasha's jumpsuit and the red ring gear Bayley wore in her actual timeline.
Becky was having a singles match with Alexa Bliss when Sasha, with purple hair in this timeline instead of blue, walked around the side of the ring closest to the announcers. She pulled out a steel chair. Sasha slid into the ring and hit Becky with the chair as Bayley entered it from the other side. The bell rang. Alexa rolled out of the ring.
Bayley grabbed the chair. Sasha yelled "What the hell?" just like she did when she did nearly the same thing to Becky in Bayley's familiar timeline. And if this was her timeline, she'd hit Becky on her back with the chair because she, very much like Sasha, was tired of Becky and her media coverage overshadowing both of them. Turtleneck Bayley implied this Bayley made poorer choices than she did. This Bayley, Bayley decided, needed a nickname like Turtleneck and Bayley of Spades. She decided upon Tag Team Bayley because this particular Bayley really loved the Women’s Tag Team Championship, as if it were one of the main brand single championships. Bayley shook her head. Why get attached to a tag team championship?
Sasha grabbed the chair back. She hit Tag Team Bayley with the chair.
Blackness surrounded Bayley. But not for long, as she found her way inside yet another gorilla setup.
Hell in a Cell, October 6, 2019
Sacramento, CA
...The Hell in a Cell gorilla? Bayley didn't have the Smackdown Women's or tag title around her waist. She was wearing golden gear that looked like the gear she wore for the 2019 Clash of Champions pay-ver-view. She wasn't back to her timeline. This was the start of this particular Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
Turtleneck Bayley appeared on a monitor in this gorilla. She cackled. "The Boss 'n' Hug Connection lost...to the Kabuki Warriors!" She kept laughing. "Sasha kept baiting this idiot Bayley with that Extreme Rules match from 2017 and Bayley fell for it!" The match in question was a "kendo stick on a pole" match Bayley asked then-Raw general manager Kurt Angle for after Alexa Bliss did a baffling segment called "Bayley, This Is Your Life." The segment was supposed to humiliate Bayley, but several people knew Bayley's "boyfriend" hired for the segment was not her actual boyfriend and her "father" in one of the pictures Alexa stole for the segment was not Bret Hart. Bayley won the kendo stick but still lost that match.
"Dude, that loss still stings."
Turtleneck Bayley gestured towards the pictures behind her. "You have gold to dry your tears. Who cares if you got beat up by some pint-sized so-called 'Goddess?' You don't have to prove shit to anyone.
"Anyway, since Sasha is a backstabbing bitch even in this reality, she's beaten you up with kendo sticks and steel chairs for a few weeks on Raw. It got so bad that you're opening Hell in a Cell in Hell in a Cell."
"Where's Becky?"
"I don't know. They didn't book her for this match. I only know what I've already seen of this weird timeline. Do the 'Turn It Up' thing. Beat Sasha up with some kendo sticks and throw her onto some chairs. I gotta go."
Purple-Haired Sasha was already in the cell, wearing her usual ring gear with a purple camouflage pattern. Bayley, as Tag Team Bayley, walked out.
Bayley did her usual pumping up of the crowd and waiting for her Bayley Buddies to inflate. But the crowd jeered her. Tag Team Bayley really thought she was a face here, huh, Bayley thought.
The Hell in a Cell match moved fast for Bayley. One moment Purple-Haired Sasha kicked Bayley out of the ring and the cell. The next, they fought each other back into the cell's door, locked in by one of the referees outside the ring. They smashed each other into the cell's walls. During a slower part of the match, when Purple-Haired Sasha set up a chair in one part of the cell, Bayley pulled out a kendo stick and hit Purple-Haired Sasha in the back with it until the stick broke. Bayley couldn't avoid Purple-Haired Sasha bringing her back into the ring, placing her on a table, and flattening her with a meteora. Purple-Haired Sasha pulled out a lot of chairs into the ring. Bayley brought Purple-Haired Sasha back into the ring and performed a Bayley-to-Belly Suplex, throwing Purple-Haired Sasha onto the pile of chairs. The referee counted to three and the match ended. The cell rose to the ceiling and Bayley left the match, the boos for Tag Team Bayley following her up the entrance ramp.
Fyter Fest Night Two, July 19, 2021
Garland, TX
This is like the freakin' Odyssey or The Wizard of Oz or something, Bayley thought as she stepped into another gorilla setup. Or so she thought.
"Bayley, I gotta stop you right here," Turtleneck Bayley said through a monitor set up in an interview section. "This is All Elite Wrestling. When I get you back to our timeline, you're gonna hear some sheep chant 'A-E-W' after Seth and the Fiend's match."
"Dude, how can people hate a Hell in a Cell match?"
"It ended in disqualification. That's why people hated it. Some sheep wanted to see this promotion instead of WWE, and this promotion is where this idiot should be right now. I think those 'A-E-W' chants got to her. But she's not here. I'm close to finding her, but give me some time. I gotta show you something from YouTube. It's called "Road to Fyter Fest, Night Two."
"We're in the Bahamas? Dude, am I at least staying somewhere decent there? I saw those military tents and that styrofoam tray."
"No, Fyter Fest." Bayley looked down on what appeared to be a cell phone, scrobbling through a video. "It's a TV pay-per-view-ish event they put on for AEW, not that scam festival. How do you not know Texas when you used to live here for a bit, huh?" For a while, Bayley lived in Austin before returning to her hometown, San Jose.
The video played. A woman in a red jacket was seen walking out somewhere. Someone said off-camera "What do you think of the champion?"
Tag Team Bayley appeared on screen. Except Tag Team Bayley looked like Bayley did in her days on the independent scene and her early days in NXT--long brown hair and a green crop top. "Well, I don't know her," Tag Team Bayley said, but I know I can beat her."
Tag Team Bayley's opponent in the red jacket was introduced as Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. in the video. Said opponent was first seen covered in blood before, in another clip, doing some sort of mandible claw maneuver to other opponents.
"Dude, can you press pause for a minute?"
Turtleneck Bayley paused the video but didn't appear onscreen. "Do you know how pointless it is for a dentist to call themselves 'doctor' twice? You'd think Davina Rose would call Britt out on this but nope."
"I see why you don't like this Bayley. She feels defeated. Like she lacks ambition."
"This Bayley always wanted to stay face. She wanted everyone to love her even as those idiot sheep booed her. She always wanted to look like that lovable, huggable Bayley. Sorry if I'm offending you right now."
"You're not offending me."
"She didn't care about championships. She didn't care about winning! She ended up sitting in catering. And she hated it. So she left WWE. And now she's here trying to make friends again instead of being a champion. She's lying in this video! She's pathetic."
Turtleneck Bayley started the video again. Tag Team Bayley appeared on screen again. "I know it's been a long time, but I want to remind you of who Davina Rose was." Bayley hated that, in this realm, she reverted back to the way she looked when she first appeared on NXT. Before she was the Hugger. Before she was the Role Model. Before she became the Bayley in the turtleneck, even.
Clips of Davina Rose--Bayley's wrestling name before joining WWE--from various independent wrestling promotions played, followed by Baker cutting promos on Davina Rose. "I was a champion before at the other place," Davina Rose said after the Baker promos. "And I'm going to be a champion at AEW."
Turtleneck Bayley turned the video off. She laughed. "I hate that loser!"
"Dude, I guess I'm losing."
Turtleneck Bayley nodded. "Gorilla's up ahead."
Bayley walked to, then out of Dusty position. An EDM-like song, something that sounded like it was riffing off of Bebe Rexha, played.
On the entrance ramp, Bayley waited until the ring announcer announced the now-Davina Rose to the ring. The crowd reaction she received was warm, but it was nowhere like it was when this Davina Rose was Bayley. Bayley waited until Britt entered the ring. The crowd pop for Britt was louder for Davina Rose.
Turtleneck Bayley said not to try against Britt, and Bayley, as this Davina Rose, didn't try at all. She performed her signature moves. She climbed a turnbuckle and did an elbow off the the top rope. She did a belly-to-belly suplex. Bayley didn't exist in AEW, so calling her belly-to-belly suplex "Bayley-to-Belly" was out. She did chops across Britt's chest and tried to do an Indian death lock. The moves felt out of place at AEW, like this Davina Rose was meant to do these moves on opponents she faced at WWE and not Britt. Davina Rose almost had Britt in the Rose Plant. But in the end, Davina Rose fell to Britt hitting a curb stomp on her neck and then the mandible claw submission move with a latex glove in her mouth. Some people in the audience called the move the "Lockjaw." Bayley assumed that was the name for this specific mandible claw move. The AEW crowd cheered loudly for Britt as her music played and the ring announcer announced her victory.
Bayley rolled out of the ring. She watched as everything around her--Britt, Britt's assistant Reba (the name confused Bayley, as she knew "Reba" as the wrestler Rebel), and the referee in the middle of the ring, the audience, the AEW Dynamite setup--turned into sand disappearing into a black void.
A void.
A door appeared in front of Bayley. Beside of the door was a doorbell. "Ring the bell!" a voice said. This has to be Turtleneck Bayley, Bayley thought.
Bayley pressed the doorbell, then opened the door.
The combined dreams and memories of Bayley from several different realities sometime in 2021, in a realm that never actually existed. It resembles one of the WWE ThunderDomes from 2020-21. Although the Bayley from 2019 doesn't realize this yet
Bayley walked into the door. Monitors with her face greeted her. There was the Bayley that won the NXT Women's Championship from Shayna, looking over her shoulder. Turtleneck Bayley was right. There was a part of that Bayley that quietly feared the rage of her reality's Dakota. There was the Bayley that fought Sasha in 2019 instead of Charlotte. Other Bayleys had different colored hair--pink, purple, red. They wore ring gear that resembled other wrestlers. Women Bayley hadn't seen in a while like AJ Lee and Eva Marie. Women she saw often--Alexa, Nia, her fellow Horsewomen. Women Bayley didn't see on the main brand often, like Shayna and Dakota, but she had a feeling she'd know them soon.
Turtleneck Bayley wore a black blazer and now a striped black-and-white turtleneck, along with black ripped jeans and black high-heeled boots. She sat in a chair with a sofa and a plaque commemorating 380 days as SmackDown Women's Champion. She wore oversized glasses that made Bayley think of Sally Jesse Raphaël. Photos similar to the backdrop Turtleneck Bayley had while addressing Bayley Turtleneck Bayley stood up. "No, no. You're about to be a legend, just like I am now. Take a seat."
Bayley sat in the sofa.
"How do you feel about actually beating Shayna Baszler, something I can't do without her getting disqualified? Because whenever I try to beat her all of a sudden I feel these arms around my throat and I'm trying not to pass out like this one time I passed out in the Asuka Lock?" Turtleneck Bayley was referring to what would be Bayley's last match in NXT on the active roster, her match against Asuka at Takeover: Brooklyn II. "Shayna choked me out with Sasha's arm once! I hate her. Please don't tell her that. She'll choke me out again."
"I'm sorry, dude. It felt great. I don't know why you don't work her arms so she can't get you, either."
"I'm going to work her arms someday. What about somehow ending up at All Elite Wrestling?"
"Dude, I'm so much better than that weird Davina Rose I played. Even me before WWE was better than that Davina Rose. I'm hungrier than that."
"I'm sorry, Bayley. Can I interrupt myself?"
Bayley looked at Turtleneck Bayley, confused. "Okay."
"I brought you here because, for some reason, my memories were being disrupted. And most of you Bayley sheep out there"--Turtleneck Bayley gestured at the monitors--"you're not in my way. You're living your not-so-successful lives as WWE cosplayers who happen to look like me and not be me. But two of you sheep failed in your realities. And you've come in my reality at one of the lowest points of my career to hijack it for yourselves because the two of you are failures." Turtleneck Bayley pointed at Bayley of Spades. "You. You trying to be relevant by dressing up like that woman who thinks she's some sort of blood-drinking god or something. I don't know. I don't play Warhammer 40,000."
Bayley of Spades, now wearing a leather jacket and Ray-Bans, appeared in front of Turtleneck Bayley. The NXT Women's Championship was draped over her right shoulder, very much like how Shayna had the title over her shoulder at times when she was still in NXT.
"You're just jealous you didn't think about going back to NXT after you lost to Charlotte," Bayley of Spades said.
"Charlotte took what was mine. I took it back. And I didn't have to play nice with some woman who does card tricks to get what's rightfully mine."
A doorbell rang. Turtleneck Bayley opened the door. At it were the versions of Shayna and Dakota from the realm Bayley of Spades interrupted. Both wore leather jackets, Ray-Bans, and sneakers. Shayna wore jeans while Dakota had pink hair and wore short shorts.
Turtleneck Bayley pushed Bayley of Spades towards Shayna and Dakota. "Off with her head!" Turtleneck Bayley shouted. She cringed, hoping that alternate dimension Shayna wouldn't go after her for calling her a 'blood-drinking god.'
Shayna grabbed Bayley of Spades. Dakota backed up and ran towards Bayley of Spades, hitting her with a Yakuza Kick. Shayna put Bayley of Spades in the Kirafuda Clutch.
Turtleneck Bayley pointed to Tag Team Bayley. "You."
Tag Team Bayley appeared in front of Turtleneck Bayley and Bayley.
"You're the most embarrassing Bayley out of all of us." Turtleneck Bayley pointed to Bayley. "She's a champion. I'm a champion."
"I'm a champion too," Tag Team Bayley said.
"We're Grand Slam Champions. You only won three championships." Turtleneck Bayley flashed three fingers in a "W" formation in Tag Team Bayley's face. "We made sure we'd be remembered. Who's going to remember you where you're from, huh? Some editor from CageMatch.Net? Some Pro Wrestling Tees employee?"
"A lot of people."
"That wanted you to turn. They kept booing you when you wouldn't turn. And they've moved on to women that don't exist in my world. Like a purple-haired Sasha in late 2019."
"I'm not that person anymore."
"You were always that person. And the fact you won't act upon it is eating you up inside. Just admit it, Davina Rose. You're miserable and you know it."
"I'm a good person and there's nothing you can say that will change my mind."
Turtleneck Bayley laughed. She grabbed Coward Bayley and threw her down to the ring canvas. Turtleneck Bayley took off her jacket and started punching Coward Bayley. "Help me!" Turtleneck Bayley yelled to Bayley.
Bayley sat in the chair for a moment. She realized that, in the most surreal of fashions, Turtleneck Bayley--a Bayley from her future--was attempting to destroy a past version of herself. Shayna and Dakota destroyed another Bayley that could've done what Finn Bálor did and went back to NXT to reestablish herself. But Bayley didn't want to go back to NXT. Turtleneck Bayley was right. Charlotte had what was rightfully hers, the SmackDown Women's Championship, and the Hugger persona held her back. The muticolored paisley crop top and tights, the Macho Man-esque fringed jackets, the tube men, "Turn It Up," the ponytail, even the color of her hair? All of it had to go. Bayley went over to Turtleneck Bayley to help her beat up Coward Bayley. Turtleneck Bayley cackled as Bayley started punching Tag Team Bayley in her chest.
Tag Team Bayley started to dissipate, as if she was turning into sand. Bayley looked up and saw nearly everything dissolve around her. The monitors with the Bayleys, the talk show set Turtleneck Bayley invited her on, Shayna, Dakota, and Bayley of Spades: they were slowly disappearing. Turtleneck Bayley walked to Bayley. Bayley felt warmth and a glowing white light...
Hell in a Cell, October 6, 2019
Sacramento, CA
Bayley was finally in the Hell in the Cell gorilla. Sasha held her arms out to hug Bayley. Bayley fell into Sasha's outstretched arms.
"It just wasn't our night tonight, Bayley," Sasha whispered in Bayley left ear.
"I know."
"You wanna go backstage and sit before we have to pack our things?"
"Sure."
Bayley stayed quiet for a few moments as the two moved out of gorilla towards the backstage area for Hell in a Cell. Then: "Sasha, can the hairstylist cut my hair and dye my hair black next week, or do I have to buy hair dye and do it myself?"
WWE SmackDown, June 5, 2021
Yuengling Center ThunderDome, Tampa, FL
Bayley sat on her couch in front of the many pictures of herself--some from her second SmackDown Women's Championship reign, others from when she was brutalizing Sasha or Bianca Belair. Bayley in front of her greatest achievements and best moments without those idiot sheep that called themselves her fans, forcing Bianca to see them over and over again to remind Bianca she'd never be as great as Bayley. It didn't matter if Bianca was SmackDown Women's Champion or not. The only regret she had was she didn't have pictures of her now best friend Shayna gloating over Bianca after retaining the NXT Women's Championship to rub salt into Bianca's wounds.
Bayley pulled out her phone. She accidentally clicked on her YouTube app. The app loaded and showed two videos that shouldn't exist in her timeline. One video was from the All Elite Wrestling YouTube account and had the title Jericho vs Spears + Texas Death Match + Women's Championship: Baker vs Davina Rose. The other was from the WWE account and was a video that never existed in her past: Is Shayna Baszler ready for the return of the 'Role Model' Bayley?: WWE NXT, December 11, 2019.
Bayley groaned. She was now on the the other side of when she met herself two years ago because two renegade Bayleys wanted to interfere in her timeline.
An email appeared on Bayley's phone. It was Shayna, but this Shayna didn't have an email address Bayley recognized. Bayley knew this was the Shayna from the alternate NXT she visited in 2019.
Bayley,
This is Shayna. Not the Shayna you know. I'm like Doctor Strange Shayna or Zatanna Shayna. I have magic powers. The Shayna you know only does card tricks. I think.
Dakota--my Dakota, not the one you know--and I come from another reality, one where we both left NXT at the same time and were never NXT Women's Champions. I crafted a reality strongly based on your reality, the one where while you were on Raw the Dakota and Shayna you know started appearing on NXT. The plan was for my Dakota to dramatically beat me just before Christmas 2019 so she could be NXT Women's Champion for a spell instead of Rhea Ripley beating the Shayna you know in your reality.
I guess there were flaws in my world that allowed this Bayley to creep in and ruin our plans. I tried to confront her just before I started to fight her in my new December 2019. But she ran away when she realized she's making a mess of my world and replaced her with you. You've been through the fighting before, but you needed the details. I've frozen time in my reality until you can get in contact with your younger self. Time should move again after you meet.
I mirrored my version of the YouTube app to your phone. I'm also mirroring a few other apps. There's one where I can connect you to monitors backstage to where your old self is. There's another where you can host a Zoom call on those ThunderDome monitors with other versions of you.
Speaking of, you know about the other errant Bayley, the one who lost the name "Bayley" and ended up in a version of AEW. That Zoom call should be enough to find the errant Bayleys.
Let me know when you're ready for me and Dakota to come over to your realm so we can dole out some punishment before we send that Bayley back to her realm and we rejoin ours.
Shayna
Something told Bayley to look at her phone app. Her phone app now had the numbers of several different Bayleys. There was also a phone number connected to a Shayna and Dakota she didn't recognize. Certainly Bayley could host a video conference between herself and about 100 versions of herself in different realms. With the way time weirdly stopped for Bayley in front of other versions of herself, she could bring out the Ding Dong, Hello set for her past self as well as the errant Bayleys to trap them. And, of course, she needed to call the Shayna and Dakota from the realm Bayley of interfered with.
Bayley blinked. After she completed her to-do list, that was it. She was about to close the loop on a weird period of her life that was so weird she couldn't confess to it in an interview with some dirt sheet writer or on someone's wrestling podcast. She couldn't even confess to it with Sasha but Sasha was gone and Bayley wanted her to stay gone. And while she was in the middle of trying to get her title from Bianca as well! This weirdness had to actually be an inconvenience for Bayley.
Then it hit her. After the Bayley video conference, maybe she could convince all the Bayleys to look like her and come back to her realm. Then, after she gave a signal, they could all laugh at Bianca before returning to their realms. Using the ThunderDome to her advantage couldn't shake the weirdness of the two Bayleys trying to tear Bayley's life apart, but her errant alternate reality selves were way better than Bianca ever was.
This entry was originally posted at https://merryghoul.dreamwidth.org/429867.html. Comments on either site are fine.
Author:
merryghoul
Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment, All Elite Wrestling
Word Count: 6587
Rating: Teen
Warnings: none. Fic does contain insults Bayley in character uses against her opponents that some may find ableist.
Summary: After losing to Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell 2019, Bayley only wants to find her friend Sasha Banks. Instead, she finds herself at NXT months into the future. A woman claiming to be Bayley, but from the future, is her guide. And now she has to fight Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship.
This is the start to Bayley’s no good, horrible, very bad time-fixing adventure.
Characters: a lot of Bayleys, Shayna Baszler, Dakota Kai, Britt Baker, two versions of Sasha Banks
Relationships: a little Sasha Banks/Bayley, alternate timeline Shayna Baszler/Dakota Kai
Title from the Pierce the Veil song.
Hell in a Cell, October 6, 2019
Sacramento, CA
Bayley stood up and started walking up the entrance ramp after throwing her tantrum. The crowd's reaction was mixed; some people were telling her she shouldn't be sad about her loss to Charlotte and some people were booing her. Some people were yelling "Yow-Ie Wow-Ie;" they wanted to see The Fiend instead of Bayley's moping. Bayley kept walking up the ramp. Dude, what's happening? I gotta get backstage. I need to find Sasha.
Bayley walked backstage. It wasn't the backstage she was expecting.
Full Sail University
December 18, 2019
Backstage seemed familiar to Bayley but in a different way. This wasn't backstage at a Raw and SmackDown pay-per-view. No, she was at NXT, at Full Sail. And she was about to go out to face someone.
A monitor nearby flickered on. Snow appeared on the monitor. A woman who looked like Bayley appeared on screen. But this Bayley was wearing a black turtleneck. Her hair was shorter and black than Bayley's hair, but it was wavier. This Bayley's eye makeup reminded Bayley of the Eye of Horus tattoo on the back of her neck. Behind this Bayley were pictures of this Bayley. Some of the photos behind this Bayley presumably showed this Bayley in action in the ring. Others showcased this Bayley's titles, the Women's Tag Team Championship and the Smackdown Women's Championship. Sometimes this Bayley wore both titles at the same time. Some of these Bayleys wore colored crop tops and tights. Bayley looked down at her gear. Some of the Bayleys wore gear similar to the one Bayley wore in the NXT gorilla in that moment.
"Hey Bayley," this Bayley said to Bayley. "It's me, Bayley."
Bayley squinted at this Bayley. Something subconsciously told Bayley to call this Bayley "Turtleneck Bayley" as if there were more Bayleys to come from...somewhere.
"No, I'm you! I don't know why this happened to us. Someone is messing with my past. That's you. And they're messing with my future. That's me. I'm going to find the idiot that's trying to not make me relevant. I found this video package for this match you're about to fight. Maybe I can give you some tips."
The snow faded and the video package played on the monitor.
"Our main event this evening is a highly anticipated bout between two of NXT's most decorated competitors," Mauro Ranello said in the video package's voiceover. "The longest reigning NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler and WWE Women's Grand Slam Champion, former NXT, Raw, SmackDown and Women's Tag Team Champion Bayley." The Bayley in the video package looked a lot like how Bayley currently looked and what Turtleneck Bayley looked like.
After Ranello's introduction, the video package started with Bayley losing at Hell in a Cell, which was the last thing she wanted to rewatch at the moment. The video package went back to NXT, where Bayley saw this Other Bayley attack a woman with brown hair and blonde highlights wearing a white jacket and a nose ring in her left nostril. Mauro reacted with disgust at Other Bayley throwing the brown haired-woman, Dakota Kai, into steel stairs. "That's no way to treat a woman who spent nine months working to come back to NXT," Mauro continued, referring to Kai. A post from Kai's Instagram account, where Kai talked about her ACL injury and her impending surgery at the time of the post, appeared on the screen.
Shayna, wearing her black jacket and her sunglasses on her head, walked out onto the Full Sail stage and applauded Other Bayley for the attack. Other Bayley looked into Shayna's eyes. It felt like Shayna didn't entirely approve of the attack but went with the attack anyway. The video cut to Other Bayley and Shayna shaking hands at ringside before showing clips of Bayley during her first stint at NXT. "Why would the former Hugger, a hero to many at NXT, make an alliance with the Queen of Spades?" Mauro asked in a voiceover.
Next were clips from Survivor Series 2019. Other Bayley lead Team NXT to victory while Shayna was able to beat Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte in a triple threat match. Then there were clips from NXT's first-ever WarGames match. Shayna recruited Other Bayley for her WarGames team; this was announced on the social media show The Bump. "I picked Bayley because I feel I can trust her, you know?" Shayna said to the hosts of The Bump. "I actually know her unlike those losers on Rhea's team." Shayna snorted, knowing full well Rhea Ripley was also on the show at the same time.
During a climatic moment in the WarGames match, Other Bayley handcuffed Shayna's right hand to one side of the WarGames cage. She straddled Shayna's left arm, grabbing it with her left hand so Shayna couldn't try to wriggle free. She used her right hand to push Shayna's head into the mat. A voiceover from Beth Phoenix said "Bayley brought back the Rose Plant to betray Shayna." The arm trap headlock driver Other Bayley did on Shayna was the Rose Plant. Bayley used to do the Rose Plant before she came to WWE and initially while she was training at the Performance Center. She named the driver after herself; Rose was her middle name. Dusty Rhodes himself said that someone as kind as Bayley shouldn't do the Rose Plant; as a result, she stopped doing that driver for years. Dude, how'd I...she get so mean? she thought.
Next was a clip from an episode of NXT. Rhea walked towards the ring, hoping to challenge Shayna for the NXT Women's Championship. Other Bayley threw Rhea into the ring stairs. She then pulled a toolbox from underneath the ring and hit Rhea's legs with the toolbox itself and whatever she could pull out of the toolbox. Other Bayley rolled into the ring. "Hey Shayna! You and me. Two weeks from now on NXT. The NXT Women's Championship. Say yes, Shayna."
Shayna walked onto the Full Sail entrance ramp, raising her title. She was yelling at Other Bayley, seemingly accepting Other Bayley's challenge. The video package ended. Snow and then Turtleneck Bayley appeared. "Dude, you're really not supposed to be here. This is a reality created by Shayna and Dakota."
"What?"
"It's a Shayna and Dakota I don't know personally, dude."
"We know Shayna and Dakota. I haven't fought them yet."
"Duh, I know that! But the two of them in this reality are wrestlers and time-manipulators in love. Sometime in their future these two were disappointed they both didn't win the NXT Women's Championship before leaving NXT. So they created a reality where Shayna still had those long title reigns in NXT but Dakota won the championship after Shayna. Then they both went to the main roster. This Bayley you're dressed up as invaded their reality. How? I don't know. Maybe this Bayley's a time manipulator too. This Shayna's playing along. This Dakota on the other hand is pissed. And this Bayley's a coward that don't want to face Shayna even if Shayna will always at least attempt to choke us out. Maybe she found out about the time manipulator thing and then bailed and hired you to clean up the mess. In a way. But I'm not going to have that Bayley ruin the both of us. So I'm going to find that idiot Bayley while you have to string together the mess she made and try not to get kicked in the head by Dakota. Then I'll come get you and make ourselves whole again, or something. Got it?"
"I do. I only trust you because you're me and if you weren't me, I'd hug you and pretend you weren't crazy. But how do I fight Shayna?"
"I thought about it. I'm not sure still, dude. I'm always running away from her or she's choking me out."
"Shayna's not on SmackDown."
"Yet. She found a way. NXT were invited to Survivor Series in 2019. Dude, Shayna's going to find you and choke you out on SmackDown and at Survivor Series. And when she wraps your arms around your neck in the main event of Survivor Series in 2019? It's all so Shayna can intimidate Becky. I'm warning you.
"Shayna ended up on Raw after leaving NXT. She mostly kept choking me out when I visited Raw. I kinda won against her once by disqualification but I solidified a tag partnership with Nia Jax. I made the situation worse!"
"Nia Jax?”
"I know. But one day Shayna doesn't choke you out. You'll understand later." Turtleneck Bayley sighed. "I don't have a strategy. Dude, just slam her arms around a lot. Don't let her put you in the Kirafuda Clutch. You know, when she's trying to choke you. And hit her with the Rose Plant. I gotta go and you gotta go out." The monitor went back to snow again before shutting off.
Bayley was used to hearing the EDM-ish strains of "Turn It Up." This rock-themed entrance theme nearly threw her off-guard. She walked out of gorilla.
This new Bayley persona didn't have or need the Bayley Buddies. She felt slowly walking out on the Full Sail entrance ramp was enough. After a few seconds walking out on the stage and looking at the Full Sail crowd, she felt she needed to scream out over her music: "It's gonna be my title again. Shayna two time? No, it's Bayley two time when I beat that stupid Kirafuda Clutch!" She stepped onto the ring apron and gave a thumbs down to the booing audience before stepping into the ring and moving to her corner. Bayley's new attitude surprised her, but she tried not to show it.
A song began with a horse's whinny before moving to a weird shuffling noise and then a rock theme. Shayna's entrance irritated Bayley: her entrance theme, the leg movements on to the stage, the hand gesture she made that looked like a spade, the air punching. And what the hell is that towel for? You're not Samoa Joe, idiot! Wait, dude, stop sounding mean in your head!
Bayley waited for Shayna to enter the ring and for the ring announcer to announce Shayna and her to the audience. The crowd didn't like Shayna, but they booed her less than Bayley. Bayley shrugged the booing off.
Bayley locked up with Shayna, looking to where the ring posts were. She started off attempting to slam Shayna into one of the ring posts, but Shayna overpowered her. Bayley backed into a corner and moved just in time to have Shayna run into the post. That was the opening Bayley needed. She pinned Shayna, knowing it wouldn't be enough. Bayley then took control of the match, slamming Shayna into the mat and ring posts. She stretched out Shayna's arms to make sure Shayna couldn't lock in the Kirafuda Clutch. Bayley knew she wouldn't be able to block everything Shayna did. Shayna's knee to Bayley's face was a reminder of that. But, as she told the audience, she was there to beat the Kirafuda Clutch. Shayna's other strikes weren't a part of a deal.
Then it felt like Shayna disappeared, as if Bayley and the referee were alone in the ring. Shayna sped up behind Bayley to attempt the Kirafuda Clutch. Bayley's strategy worked; Shayna couldn't lock in the Kirafuda Clutch. Bayley broke out of the Clutch. She wrapped her legs around Shayna's left arm and pushed her face to the mat. Shayna was out. Bayley pinned her.
The referee awarded Bayley Shayna's belt as the Full Sail crowd jeered her. Bayley headed back to gorilla, leaving a frustrated Shayna sitting and leaning on on the ropes facing the entrance ramp, her hands in her head.
Backstage Dakota stared at Bayley as if she ended NXT for good. Bayley knew this Dakota was still irritated by this, uh...Bayley of Spades. That's what I'll call her. Bayley knew Dakota was still irritated by Bayley of Spades attacking her a few weeks back. The staring didn't last long, however, as Dakota's stare and the jeering NXT audience faded away.
WWE Raw
September 2, 2019
Stepping back into gorilla at Madison Square Garden for Raw stunned Bayley. She was just here a few months ago! Was she stepping into her past?
She looked around her waist. No. She was wearing the Women's Tag Team Championship. If this really was her past, she'd be wearing the SmackDown Women's Championship. Sasha's and her sideplate were on her belt, the way Sasha and she requested their plates to be placed on their belts. And Bayley's sideplate was red and had her Hugger Little Miss-like logo, not the black sideplate with the stencil font she saw on the Bayleys behind Turtleneck Bayley. But Bayley did find it weird not having the SmackDown Women's Championship around her waist with her Hugger sideplates.
A monitor flickered on. It was Turtleneck Bayley. "We got another Bayley idiot messing with our timeline, again."
"Really?"
"Sorry, dude."
"I think this time this Bayley's about to jeopardize her wrestling career because she doesn't realize the fans don't care about her and Sasha certainly doesn't care about her. The only person I can trust is myself."
"How do you know Sasha doesn't care about us?"
"I know, okay? She claims she cared about us and she cared about our relationship, but she went after what was ours as if she never cared."
"What was 'ours?'"
"The SmackDown Women's Championship."
"Oh." Bayley was still confused but didn't want to press the issue further with Turtleneck Bayley.
"This is a timeline where Sasha and you didn't lose the Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35. She didn't take a hiatus, and instead of you becoming SmackDown Women's Champion, you stayed a tag champion."
"Wait, who won Money in the Bank?"
"Ember Moon. She went to SmackDown during the Superstar Shake-Up. Then she won Money in the Bank and cashed in on Charlotte to win the SmackDown Women's Championship. She's still on SmackDown unlike this Bayley here."
"Dude, I wanted to help establish the tag belts. I couldn't do it without Sasha around."
"You get to do that in the future! But don't you get that Sasha's using you? She's using you to bolster her own career. That's what this Bayley didn't get. This Bayley's fine wrestling the IIconics and the SummerSlam pre-show and getting all sad about Team Kick unable to challenge them because of Dakota's ACL tear, but she can't see Sasha getting ready to throw a tantrum because she can't have the Raw Women's Championship again. Until it's too late. This looks like, to you, the day you refused to let anyone get in your way to be a champion. This is actually the 'too late' for this Bayley, which is why this particular sheep fled. She didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings when she should've hurt everyone's feelings. You'll see. Sasha's leaving gorilla now. I gotta go."
Sasha's entrance music played. Bayley noticed it was the old version of Sasha's theme, not the remix with her cousin Snoop Dogg rapping a verse on her music. Sasha left gorilla. Along with her belt, she wore her ring gear--it was the ring gear that combined what they both wore at the first Takeover: Brooklyn--instead of Sasha's jumpsuit and the red ring gear Bayley wore in her actual timeline.
Becky was having a singles match with Alexa Bliss when Sasha, with purple hair in this timeline instead of blue, walked around the side of the ring closest to the announcers. She pulled out a steel chair. Sasha slid into the ring and hit Becky with the chair as Bayley entered it from the other side. The bell rang. Alexa rolled out of the ring.
Bayley grabbed the chair. Sasha yelled "What the hell?" just like she did when she did nearly the same thing to Becky in Bayley's familiar timeline. And if this was her timeline, she'd hit Becky on her back with the chair because she, very much like Sasha, was tired of Becky and her media coverage overshadowing both of them. Turtleneck Bayley implied this Bayley made poorer choices than she did. This Bayley, Bayley decided, needed a nickname like Turtleneck and Bayley of Spades. She decided upon Tag Team Bayley because this particular Bayley really loved the Women’s Tag Team Championship, as if it were one of the main brand single championships. Bayley shook her head. Why get attached to a tag team championship?
Sasha grabbed the chair back. She hit Tag Team Bayley with the chair.
Blackness surrounded Bayley. But not for long, as she found her way inside yet another gorilla setup.
Hell in a Cell, October 6, 2019
Sacramento, CA
...The Hell in a Cell gorilla? Bayley didn't have the Smackdown Women's or tag title around her waist. She was wearing golden gear that looked like the gear she wore for the 2019 Clash of Champions pay-ver-view. She wasn't back to her timeline. This was the start of this particular Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
Turtleneck Bayley appeared on a monitor in this gorilla. She cackled. "The Boss 'n' Hug Connection lost...to the Kabuki Warriors!" She kept laughing. "Sasha kept baiting this idiot Bayley with that Extreme Rules match from 2017 and Bayley fell for it!" The match in question was a "kendo stick on a pole" match Bayley asked then-Raw general manager Kurt Angle for after Alexa Bliss did a baffling segment called "Bayley, This Is Your Life." The segment was supposed to humiliate Bayley, but several people knew Bayley's "boyfriend" hired for the segment was not her actual boyfriend and her "father" in one of the pictures Alexa stole for the segment was not Bret Hart. Bayley won the kendo stick but still lost that match.
"Dude, that loss still stings."
Turtleneck Bayley gestured towards the pictures behind her. "You have gold to dry your tears. Who cares if you got beat up by some pint-sized so-called 'Goddess?' You don't have to prove shit to anyone.
"Anyway, since Sasha is a backstabbing bitch even in this reality, she's beaten you up with kendo sticks and steel chairs for a few weeks on Raw. It got so bad that you're opening Hell in a Cell in Hell in a Cell."
"Where's Becky?"
"I don't know. They didn't book her for this match. I only know what I've already seen of this weird timeline. Do the 'Turn It Up' thing. Beat Sasha up with some kendo sticks and throw her onto some chairs. I gotta go."
Purple-Haired Sasha was already in the cell, wearing her usual ring gear with a purple camouflage pattern. Bayley, as Tag Team Bayley, walked out.
Bayley did her usual pumping up of the crowd and waiting for her Bayley Buddies to inflate. But the crowd jeered her. Tag Team Bayley really thought she was a face here, huh, Bayley thought.
The Hell in a Cell match moved fast for Bayley. One moment Purple-Haired Sasha kicked Bayley out of the ring and the cell. The next, they fought each other back into the cell's door, locked in by one of the referees outside the ring. They smashed each other into the cell's walls. During a slower part of the match, when Purple-Haired Sasha set up a chair in one part of the cell, Bayley pulled out a kendo stick and hit Purple-Haired Sasha in the back with it until the stick broke. Bayley couldn't avoid Purple-Haired Sasha bringing her back into the ring, placing her on a table, and flattening her with a meteora. Purple-Haired Sasha pulled out a lot of chairs into the ring. Bayley brought Purple-Haired Sasha back into the ring and performed a Bayley-to-Belly Suplex, throwing Purple-Haired Sasha onto the pile of chairs. The referee counted to three and the match ended. The cell rose to the ceiling and Bayley left the match, the boos for Tag Team Bayley following her up the entrance ramp.
Fyter Fest Night Two, July 19, 2021
Garland, TX
This is like the freakin' Odyssey or The Wizard of Oz or something, Bayley thought as she stepped into another gorilla setup. Or so she thought.
"Bayley, I gotta stop you right here," Turtleneck Bayley said through a monitor set up in an interview section. "This is All Elite Wrestling. When I get you back to our timeline, you're gonna hear some sheep chant 'A-E-W' after Seth and the Fiend's match."
"Dude, how can people hate a Hell in a Cell match?"
"It ended in disqualification. That's why people hated it. Some sheep wanted to see this promotion instead of WWE, and this promotion is where this idiot should be right now. I think those 'A-E-W' chants got to her. But she's not here. I'm close to finding her, but give me some time. I gotta show you something from YouTube. It's called "Road to Fyter Fest, Night Two."
"We're in the Bahamas? Dude, am I at least staying somewhere decent there? I saw those military tents and that styrofoam tray."
"No, Fyter Fest." Bayley looked down on what appeared to be a cell phone, scrobbling through a video. "It's a TV pay-per-view-ish event they put on for AEW, not that scam festival. How do you not know Texas when you used to live here for a bit, huh?" For a while, Bayley lived in Austin before returning to her hometown, San Jose.
The video played. A woman in a red jacket was seen walking out somewhere. Someone said off-camera "What do you think of the champion?"
Tag Team Bayley appeared on screen. Except Tag Team Bayley looked like Bayley did in her days on the independent scene and her early days in NXT--long brown hair and a green crop top. "Well, I don't know her," Tag Team Bayley said, but I know I can beat her."
Tag Team Bayley's opponent in the red jacket was introduced as Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. in the video. Said opponent was first seen covered in blood before, in another clip, doing some sort of mandible claw maneuver to other opponents.
"Dude, can you press pause for a minute?"
Turtleneck Bayley paused the video but didn't appear onscreen. "Do you know how pointless it is for a dentist to call themselves 'doctor' twice? You'd think Davina Rose would call Britt out on this but nope."
"I see why you don't like this Bayley. She feels defeated. Like she lacks ambition."
"This Bayley always wanted to stay face. She wanted everyone to love her even as those idiot sheep booed her. She always wanted to look like that lovable, huggable Bayley. Sorry if I'm offending you right now."
"You're not offending me."
"She didn't care about championships. She didn't care about winning! She ended up sitting in catering. And she hated it. So she left WWE. And now she's here trying to make friends again instead of being a champion. She's lying in this video! She's pathetic."
Turtleneck Bayley started the video again. Tag Team Bayley appeared on screen again. "I know it's been a long time, but I want to remind you of who Davina Rose was." Bayley hated that, in this realm, she reverted back to the way she looked when she first appeared on NXT. Before she was the Hugger. Before she was the Role Model. Before she became the Bayley in the turtleneck, even.
Clips of Davina Rose--Bayley's wrestling name before joining WWE--from various independent wrestling promotions played, followed by Baker cutting promos on Davina Rose. "I was a champion before at the other place," Davina Rose said after the Baker promos. "And I'm going to be a champion at AEW."
Turtleneck Bayley turned the video off. She laughed. "I hate that loser!"
"Dude, I guess I'm losing."
Turtleneck Bayley nodded. "Gorilla's up ahead."
Bayley walked to, then out of Dusty position. An EDM-like song, something that sounded like it was riffing off of Bebe Rexha, played.
On the entrance ramp, Bayley waited until the ring announcer announced the now-Davina Rose to the ring. The crowd reaction she received was warm, but it was nowhere like it was when this Davina Rose was Bayley. Bayley waited until Britt entered the ring. The crowd pop for Britt was louder for Davina Rose.
Turtleneck Bayley said not to try against Britt, and Bayley, as this Davina Rose, didn't try at all. She performed her signature moves. She climbed a turnbuckle and did an elbow off the the top rope. She did a belly-to-belly suplex. Bayley didn't exist in AEW, so calling her belly-to-belly suplex "Bayley-to-Belly" was out. She did chops across Britt's chest and tried to do an Indian death lock. The moves felt out of place at AEW, like this Davina Rose was meant to do these moves on opponents she faced at WWE and not Britt. Davina Rose almost had Britt in the Rose Plant. But in the end, Davina Rose fell to Britt hitting a curb stomp on her neck and then the mandible claw submission move with a latex glove in her mouth. Some people in the audience called the move the "Lockjaw." Bayley assumed that was the name for this specific mandible claw move. The AEW crowd cheered loudly for Britt as her music played and the ring announcer announced her victory.
Bayley rolled out of the ring. She watched as everything around her--Britt, Britt's assistant Reba (the name confused Bayley, as she knew "Reba" as the wrestler Rebel), and the referee in the middle of the ring, the audience, the AEW Dynamite setup--turned into sand disappearing into a black void.
A void.
A door appeared in front of Bayley. Beside of the door was a doorbell. "Ring the bell!" a voice said. This has to be Turtleneck Bayley, Bayley thought.
Bayley pressed the doorbell, then opened the door.
The combined dreams and memories of Bayley from several different realities sometime in 2021, in a realm that never actually existed. It resembles one of the WWE ThunderDomes from 2020-21. Although the Bayley from 2019 doesn't realize this yet
Bayley walked into the door. Monitors with her face greeted her. There was the Bayley that won the NXT Women's Championship from Shayna, looking over her shoulder. Turtleneck Bayley was right. There was a part of that Bayley that quietly feared the rage of her reality's Dakota. There was the Bayley that fought Sasha in 2019 instead of Charlotte. Other Bayleys had different colored hair--pink, purple, red. They wore ring gear that resembled other wrestlers. Women Bayley hadn't seen in a while like AJ Lee and Eva Marie. Women she saw often--Alexa, Nia, her fellow Horsewomen. Women Bayley didn't see on the main brand often, like Shayna and Dakota, but she had a feeling she'd know them soon.
Turtleneck Bayley wore a black blazer and now a striped black-and-white turtleneck, along with black ripped jeans and black high-heeled boots. She sat in a chair with a sofa and a plaque commemorating 380 days as SmackDown Women's Champion. She wore oversized glasses that made Bayley think of Sally Jesse Raphaël. Photos similar to the backdrop Turtleneck Bayley had while addressing Bayley Turtleneck Bayley stood up. "No, no. You're about to be a legend, just like I am now. Take a seat."
Bayley sat in the sofa.
"How do you feel about actually beating Shayna Baszler, something I can't do without her getting disqualified? Because whenever I try to beat her all of a sudden I feel these arms around my throat and I'm trying not to pass out like this one time I passed out in the Asuka Lock?" Turtleneck Bayley was referring to what would be Bayley's last match in NXT on the active roster, her match against Asuka at Takeover: Brooklyn II. "Shayna choked me out with Sasha's arm once! I hate her. Please don't tell her that. She'll choke me out again."
"I'm sorry, dude. It felt great. I don't know why you don't work her arms so she can't get you, either."
"I'm going to work her arms someday. What about somehow ending up at All Elite Wrestling?"
"Dude, I'm so much better than that weird Davina Rose I played. Even me before WWE was better than that Davina Rose. I'm hungrier than that."
"I'm sorry, Bayley. Can I interrupt myself?"
Bayley looked at Turtleneck Bayley, confused. "Okay."
"I brought you here because, for some reason, my memories were being disrupted. And most of you Bayley sheep out there"--Turtleneck Bayley gestured at the monitors--"you're not in my way. You're living your not-so-successful lives as WWE cosplayers who happen to look like me and not be me. But two of you sheep failed in your realities. And you've come in my reality at one of the lowest points of my career to hijack it for yourselves because the two of you are failures." Turtleneck Bayley pointed at Bayley of Spades. "You. You trying to be relevant by dressing up like that woman who thinks she's some sort of blood-drinking god or something. I don't know. I don't play Warhammer 40,000."
Bayley of Spades, now wearing a leather jacket and Ray-Bans, appeared in front of Turtleneck Bayley. The NXT Women's Championship was draped over her right shoulder, very much like how Shayna had the title over her shoulder at times when she was still in NXT.
"You're just jealous you didn't think about going back to NXT after you lost to Charlotte," Bayley of Spades said.
"Charlotte took what was mine. I took it back. And I didn't have to play nice with some woman who does card tricks to get what's rightfully mine."
A doorbell rang. Turtleneck Bayley opened the door. At it were the versions of Shayna and Dakota from the realm Bayley of Spades interrupted. Both wore leather jackets, Ray-Bans, and sneakers. Shayna wore jeans while Dakota had pink hair and wore short shorts.
Turtleneck Bayley pushed Bayley of Spades towards Shayna and Dakota. "Off with her head!" Turtleneck Bayley shouted. She cringed, hoping that alternate dimension Shayna wouldn't go after her for calling her a 'blood-drinking god.'
Shayna grabbed Bayley of Spades. Dakota backed up and ran towards Bayley of Spades, hitting her with a Yakuza Kick. Shayna put Bayley of Spades in the Kirafuda Clutch.
Turtleneck Bayley pointed to Tag Team Bayley. "You."
Tag Team Bayley appeared in front of Turtleneck Bayley and Bayley.
"You're the most embarrassing Bayley out of all of us." Turtleneck Bayley pointed to Bayley. "She's a champion. I'm a champion."
"I'm a champion too," Tag Team Bayley said.
"We're Grand Slam Champions. You only won three championships." Turtleneck Bayley flashed three fingers in a "W" formation in Tag Team Bayley's face. "We made sure we'd be remembered. Who's going to remember you where you're from, huh? Some editor from CageMatch.Net? Some Pro Wrestling Tees employee?"
"A lot of people."
"That wanted you to turn. They kept booing you when you wouldn't turn. And they've moved on to women that don't exist in my world. Like a purple-haired Sasha in late 2019."
"I'm not that person anymore."
"You were always that person. And the fact you won't act upon it is eating you up inside. Just admit it, Davina Rose. You're miserable and you know it."
"I'm a good person and there's nothing you can say that will change my mind."
Turtleneck Bayley laughed. She grabbed Coward Bayley and threw her down to the ring canvas. Turtleneck Bayley took off her jacket and started punching Coward Bayley. "Help me!" Turtleneck Bayley yelled to Bayley.
Bayley sat in the chair for a moment. She realized that, in the most surreal of fashions, Turtleneck Bayley--a Bayley from her future--was attempting to destroy a past version of herself. Shayna and Dakota destroyed another Bayley that could've done what Finn Bálor did and went back to NXT to reestablish herself. But Bayley didn't want to go back to NXT. Turtleneck Bayley was right. Charlotte had what was rightfully hers, the SmackDown Women's Championship, and the Hugger persona held her back. The muticolored paisley crop top and tights, the Macho Man-esque fringed jackets, the tube men, "Turn It Up," the ponytail, even the color of her hair? All of it had to go. Bayley went over to Turtleneck Bayley to help her beat up Coward Bayley. Turtleneck Bayley cackled as Bayley started punching Tag Team Bayley in her chest.
Tag Team Bayley started to dissipate, as if she was turning into sand. Bayley looked up and saw nearly everything dissolve around her. The monitors with the Bayleys, the talk show set Turtleneck Bayley invited her on, Shayna, Dakota, and Bayley of Spades: they were slowly disappearing. Turtleneck Bayley walked to Bayley. Bayley felt warmth and a glowing white light...
Hell in a Cell, October 6, 2019
Sacramento, CA
Bayley was finally in the Hell in the Cell gorilla. Sasha held her arms out to hug Bayley. Bayley fell into Sasha's outstretched arms.
"It just wasn't our night tonight, Bayley," Sasha whispered in Bayley left ear.
"I know."
"You wanna go backstage and sit before we have to pack our things?"
"Sure."
Bayley stayed quiet for a few moments as the two moved out of gorilla towards the backstage area for Hell in a Cell. Then: "Sasha, can the hairstylist cut my hair and dye my hair black next week, or do I have to buy hair dye and do it myself?"
WWE SmackDown, June 5, 2021
Yuengling Center ThunderDome, Tampa, FL
Bayley sat on her couch in front of the many pictures of herself--some from her second SmackDown Women's Championship reign, others from when she was brutalizing Sasha or Bianca Belair. Bayley in front of her greatest achievements and best moments without those idiot sheep that called themselves her fans, forcing Bianca to see them over and over again to remind Bianca she'd never be as great as Bayley. It didn't matter if Bianca was SmackDown Women's Champion or not. The only regret she had was she didn't have pictures of her now best friend Shayna gloating over Bianca after retaining the NXT Women's Championship to rub salt into Bianca's wounds.
Bayley pulled out her phone. She accidentally clicked on her YouTube app. The app loaded and showed two videos that shouldn't exist in her timeline. One video was from the All Elite Wrestling YouTube account and had the title Jericho vs Spears + Texas Death Match + Women's Championship: Baker vs Davina Rose. The other was from the WWE account and was a video that never existed in her past: Is Shayna Baszler ready for the return of the 'Role Model' Bayley?: WWE NXT, December 11, 2019.
Bayley groaned. She was now on the the other side of when she met herself two years ago because two renegade Bayleys wanted to interfere in her timeline.
An email appeared on Bayley's phone. It was Shayna, but this Shayna didn't have an email address Bayley recognized. Bayley knew this was the Shayna from the alternate NXT she visited in 2019.
Bayley,
This is Shayna. Not the Shayna you know. I'm like Doctor Strange Shayna or Zatanna Shayna. I have magic powers. The Shayna you know only does card tricks. I think.
Dakota--my Dakota, not the one you know--and I come from another reality, one where we both left NXT at the same time and were never NXT Women's Champions. I crafted a reality strongly based on your reality, the one where while you were on Raw the Dakota and Shayna you know started appearing on NXT. The plan was for my Dakota to dramatically beat me just before Christmas 2019 so she could be NXT Women's Champion for a spell instead of Rhea Ripley beating the Shayna you know in your reality.
I guess there were flaws in my world that allowed this Bayley to creep in and ruin our plans. I tried to confront her just before I started to fight her in my new December 2019. But she ran away when she realized she's making a mess of my world and replaced her with you. You've been through the fighting before, but you needed the details. I've frozen time in my reality until you can get in contact with your younger self. Time should move again after you meet.
I mirrored my version of the YouTube app to your phone. I'm also mirroring a few other apps. There's one where I can connect you to monitors backstage to where your old self is. There's another where you can host a Zoom call on those ThunderDome monitors with other versions of you.
Speaking of, you know about the other errant Bayley, the one who lost the name "Bayley" and ended up in a version of AEW. That Zoom call should be enough to find the errant Bayleys.
Let me know when you're ready for me and Dakota to come over to your realm so we can dole out some punishment before we send that Bayley back to her realm and we rejoin ours.
Shayna
Something told Bayley to look at her phone app. Her phone app now had the numbers of several different Bayleys. There was also a phone number connected to a Shayna and Dakota she didn't recognize. Certainly Bayley could host a video conference between herself and about 100 versions of herself in different realms. With the way time weirdly stopped for Bayley in front of other versions of herself, she could bring out the Ding Dong, Hello set for her past self as well as the errant Bayleys to trap them. And, of course, she needed to call the Shayna and Dakota from the realm Bayley of interfered with.
Bayley blinked. After she completed her to-do list, that was it. She was about to close the loop on a weird period of her life that was so weird she couldn't confess to it in an interview with some dirt sheet writer or on someone's wrestling podcast. She couldn't even confess to it with Sasha but Sasha was gone and Bayley wanted her to stay gone. And while she was in the middle of trying to get her title from Bianca as well! This weirdness had to actually be an inconvenience for Bayley.
Then it hit her. After the Bayley video conference, maybe she could convince all the Bayleys to look like her and come back to her realm. Then, after she gave a signal, they could all laugh at Bianca before returning to their realms. Using the ThunderDome to her advantage couldn't shake the weirdness of the two Bayleys trying to tear Bayley's life apart, but her errant alternate reality selves were way better than Bianca ever was.
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