What if Bayley gets a ‘Hulk Hogan’ title reign?

The RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania was high-octane, and each woman brought her A-game into the match. It ended with Bayley landing the signature Macho Man elbow from the top rope to defeat Charlotte and prove that she could win the title by herself all along.

So now the speculation has started as to what will happen going forward. Who will step up to challenge Bayley for the title at Payback? My personal vote is for Emma to stroll in looking as evil as ever and boldly make her claim. I also wouldn’t mind Nia Jax getting a one-on-one title match sometime during the next four months. But, I’ll be invested no matter what happens.

The biggest question is about what kind of title reign Bayley will have now that the rivalry with Charlotte is settled. Will Bayley immediately lose the title at Payback? Or will we get to see America’s favorite hugger carry the belt into Summerslam?

Considering Bayley’s ‘80s gimmick, including the Macho Man elbow drop she carried with her through WrestleMania, what if we got to see Bayley booked like a 1980s babyface going forward? Would today’s WWE fans be able to respect a dominant babyface Women’s champion that carried the title for a record number of consecutive days similar to Hulk Hogan or the Ultimate Warrior?

Everybody is already calling for Sasha Banks to turn heel and betray Bayley, but does WWE necessarily need to do that? One of my favorite WrestleMania moments was Hulk Hogan losing to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI and graciously handing over the World Heavyweight Championship. Would it be so wrong to let Bayley and Sasha have a similar rivalry in the modern day women’s division?

I can already point out two problems with this type of booking. In the late ‘80s and in 1990, WWE had just four pay-per-views and would spend months building up a feud. Now, WWE has a pay-per-view every month. And with that, there’s a need to have more turnover with championships, or at least the perception of turnover.

The second problem is that booking Bayley as a dominant babyface akin to Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior might lead to prematurely calling up women from NXT to challenge for Bayley’s title who might not be ready yet.

I certainly wouldn’t keep the belt on Bayley for four years like Hulk Hogan. That would be crazy. But, what if Bayley held onto it for an entire year, like Macho Man going into WrestleMania V?

I’m no expert, otherwise I’d have a job with WWE creative, but I think it’s an idea to explore. Bayley is such a throwback character that maybe booking her with a throwback title reign might be interesting to see. She’s obviously the fan favorite, so she’s the one everybody wants to see defending the title at Summerslam. So what to do with her until then?

image credit – WWE