In a revealing segment of her interview on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, Bayley discussed the significant injury she sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic. She clarified that it was more serious than the initially reported ACL tear and significantly influenced the creation of the Damage CTRL faction.
“This will be a story for another day because I’m not ready to share it yet, but my injury ended up being more than what everybody knows. It was a bigger injury than anybody knows. There’s a few people that are aware of it, and obviously the office and stuff, but that’s the reason. It wasn’t just an ACL thing, it was a bigger injury, and that’s the reason why it kept me out longer. It still bugs me to this day. I can’t do certain things. It’s hard for me to run. It’s hard for me to do leg curls. There’s a lot of things that I can’t do because of that injury,” Bayley explained, emphasizing the lasting impact of the undisclosed injury, which occurred in July 2021 and kept her sidelined for over a year.
The severity of the injury caused her to doubt her immediate return capabilities. “So there was a time, maybe in PT doing stuff where I was like, I can’t even walk, I can’t jump, how am I supposed to wrestle in three months or something? So there was that little doubt which I’m sure everybody goes through with injuries, but I always knew that I was going to come back. I mean, it wasn’t that crazy of an injury. It was just like where am I going to fit in kind of thing.”
Bayley then connected her injury and recovery to the formation of the Damage CTRL stable, which debuted at SummerSlam 2022 and included Dakota Kai and IYO SKY.
“My whole idea behind Damage CTRL was like alright, I’ve won my championships, I’ve had my Mania moments, now as a character and as a bad guy, I could be like, I don’t even want anything for myself. I want it for them. They’re gonna reap all the benefits of my experience, and they’re gonna get all the championships, and they’re gonna get everything. Then when the time is right, I’m gonna steal it right from them. I’m gonna take the spotlight right back when I’m ready, but while I’m still recovering and finding my ways, they’re gonna do all the work for me. That was my idea behind it.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Insight With Chris Van Vliet with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
