Bayley Defeats Iyo Sky at WrestleMania 40, Wins WWE Women's Championship
Mike Chiari@@mikechiari
Featured Columnist IVApril 8, 2024
Bayley defeated former Damage CTRL stablemate Iyo Sky on Night 2 of WrestleMania 40 on Sunday to win the WWE Women's Championship.
The Role Model ended an excellent contest with a flying elbow before pinning Sky after a Rose Plant.
WWE @WWE<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bayley?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bayley</a> looks to dethrone <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IYOSKY?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IYOSKY</a> at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WrestleMania?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WrestleMania</a> XL! <a href="https://t.co/TdF9gg3rVc">pic.twitter.com/TdF9gg3rVc</a>
With Bayley leading the way, Damage CTRL ran roughshod over the WWE women's division for months, but the dynamic changed when Iyo won Money in the Bank last year and then cashed it in on Bianca Belair at SummerSlam to become WWE women's champion.
That made The Genius of the Sky the de facto leader in a sense, and she seemingly began calling the shots, making moves such as adding both Kairi Sane and Asuka to the group.
While Bayley seemed uneasy about the decisions, she continued to support Sky and aimed to bring a second world title to Damage CTRL.
Entering at No. 3, Bayley lasted over an hour in the 2024 women's Royal Rumble match and was victorious, meaning she would get to pick her opponent at WrestleMania.
Early indications were that she intended to challenge Rhea Ripley for the Women's World Championship, but after watching Iyo, Kairi and Asuka talk behind her back for weeks, she confronted them.
Damage CTRL proceeded to attack Bayley, which led to her dissolving her relationship with the group and challenging Sky to a title match on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
For a period of time, it looked like Bayley had an ally in her battle against Iyo, Kairi and Asuka in the form of another original Damage CTRL member, Dakota Kai.
Kai saved Bayley from an attack at the hands of the group and insisted that she didn't know about Sky's plans to bring in Sane and Asuka, which shook the stable to its core.
Bayley was wary at first, but after Kai claimed she got attacked by Damage CTRL backstage, she agreed to team with her in a tag team match against The Kabuki Warriors.
Unfortunately for The Role Model, it was all a ruse, as Kai turned on her during the match and showed that her true allegiance was to Damage CTRL.
Bayley had a lot working against her entering WrestleMania, but she found a way to beat Sky, end her 200-plus-day title reign and become women's champion in her own right for the fourth time.
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