WWE: Bayley on WWE Debuting New Women’s Titles, Cameron Grimes on Lengthy Absence, Paul Heyman

Bayley Comments on WWE Introducing Two New Women’s Titles

A recent episode of WWE’s The Bump show featured Bayley as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Bayley’s thoughts on WWE recently introducing new WWE Women’s and Women’s World Championship belts in the company.

“I mean, they’re beautiful for one. I think it’s sad to see the other ones go, but it’s definitely time for a change because the locker room has changed so much, the roster has changed and grown so much. It’s kind of nice to see a brand-new slate, so to speak, just a brand-new look. It’s kind of reminded me of when they got rid of the Divas Title and we were presented with the brand-new Raw Women’s Title, and Lita unveiled it at WrestleMania. So it was kind of a cool moment to experience that, but now it lights a fire in me. I’ve done pretty much everything, so it lights a fire in me to want to see myself raising that title or to see IYO [SKY] raising either one of those titles.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Cameron Grimes Comments on His Lengthy Absence from Last NXT Match to Main Roster Debut

A recent episode of the Out of Character with Ryan Satin podcast featured Cameron Grimes as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Grimes’ thoughts on if his lengthy delay from his last NXT match this past November until his main roster debut this past May was due to creative-related timing issues.

“Yeah, 100%. If you’ve watched our product in the past year, it’s incredible. It’s on top of its game. My last NXT match was in November. Around that time, we’re gearing up to go to the Royal Rumble, we’re gearing up to go to WrestleMania. Like I said, if you watched our product that whole stint going into the Rumble and going into WrestleMania, there has been incredible segments that’s been happening on television. I think I would be insane to say like, ‘You know what, let’s cut five minutes from this Bloodline segment to establish Cameron Grimes right here.’ I feel like it was all timing. I definitely took that down period of time and got in the best shape of my life. I’ve taken advantage of the PC. They have everything. If you’ve ever watched Rocky, like the scene where Drago is in the gym and he’s got all the equipment hooked up to him and the breathing tubes, that’s what they’re doing at the PC now. So I’ve just been completely taking advantage of that and getting ready because I knew that I am at the pinnacle now. I am at the top. There is no higher. You saw me at the bottom, in the super indies. There is no higher. I cannot go any higher now. So the only thing I can do now is stay here and try to make the most out of it.”

Grimes also gave his thoughts about his main roster debut for WWE’s SmackDown brand.

“I’m a big cryer. I’m not afraid to cry. I’m very passionate. So the whole day leading up was pretty bad. Luckily my debut on SmackDown was pretty easy, so I didn’t have to get too worked up over it. But definitely the whole day, just leading up to it, oh yeah, the tears were coming.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Paul Heyman Comments on Inclusive Storylines Being a Place WWE Should Go to Next

A recent episode of the Tetragrammaton podcast had Paul Heyman as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Heyman’s thoughts on inclusive storylines and amplified aura of theatre being the next places that WWE and the wrestling industry could go to revolutionize wrestling storytelling.

“The safe answer, to sound pseudo intelligent, is inclusive storylines. A transgender hero. A female that competes at the same level, with the same marketing behind her as any of the male competitors. [One] that’s not Ronda Rousey from the outside world coming in as a celebrity, but a homegrown Rhea Ripley. Or Bianca Belair. Or Charlotte Flair. Or Becky Lynch. Or Bayley. Or Nattie. Or any of these fantastic performers that we have on the roster. That [they] get a platform as lucrative and that carries as much opportunity on a global basis as any of their male counterparts. That’s a very safe thing for me to say. I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that’s a place we should go, could go, and will go.

The unsafe answer. The one that I will preface [by saying that] when I pitch things that I’m not all that sure about, I say, ‘Well, let me just reserve the right to be really stupid in what I’m about to suggest.’ The other answer is an amplified aura of theatre without theatrics. The transformative, the revolutionary, the evolutionary disruptor in this industry towards that theory is Roman Reigns. We do movie scenes in the locker room to further tell the story. 3, 4, 5 minute movie scenes showing the vulnerability of his character, the angst of his character, the worry of his character, the sensitivities of his character, idiosyncrasies, nuances of his character, with his cousins, by his cousins, with a spotlight on his cousins at times, and sometimes on me. Sometimes in my sycophantic nature of appeasing The Tribal Chief, while at the same time, also appeasing him based on the fear that he can behead me at any time. A couple of years ago, if I said to you, ‘We’re going to do these locker room scenes that are movie scenes, and this villain champion for 1000 days, unbeatable by anybody is going to cry. Or he’s going to pivot because he’s exposing his own fears. His jealousy, his envy, his rage. If I would have told you this, you’d say, ‘No, that’s not what to do backstage.

But you’ve never seen just scenes play out the way that we’re doing it now. And ones that completely propel the storyline into its next chapter. That was the secret of the Sami story, is what we were doing backstage with Sami. So that when we took the stories out to the ring, and the story of his desire for acceptance, and our refusal to give it to him, and Jey being the strongest minded and not giving it to him, which pissed off The Tribal Chief for Jey to make the decision and not for Roman to make the decision. So to spite Jey, and to show Jey who was the boss, that Roman would accept Sami a little more every week just to piss off Jey. The jealousy and the envy within one’s own family. Spite. We’ve all dealt with spiteful people and it’s and it’s not a pleasant personality trait. So, The Tribal Chief as a villain will display spite. These are all things that came to life in the ring based on the backstage drama that we were displaying. Not caring that the camera’s right in front of us. Never pretending that it’s not there. We’re playing out scenes. Now, this is a moment in time where it’s being done so well by Roman Reigns and The Usos, and Sami, and all those around him that it’s accepted. That people get into the story. The same way when I opened the door and The Usos left on Monday, I said, ‘Took care of it my Tribal Chief.’ They gasped. If anybody else tried this it would have bombed. Because Roman Reigns as an actor is better than anybody else in WWE, and he pulled it off. So we tailored this to his strengths and now it’s become an accepted part of the business.”

Heyman also gave his thoughts on if that level of acting is now required from WWE’s top stars.

“I think it’s now part of the expectation of a top star to be able to act in that way. Yeah. I think he’s added a dimension to a top star that we didn’t have before.”

Transcript h/t: Figthful.com