WWE legend William Regal has revealed the idea behind Bayley’s character came from his niece after she was unable to get a t-shirt of her hero AJ Lee.
The 51-year-old, who is the current General Manager of NXT, initially served as a mentor on the original reality-style format of the show before it’s rebrand in 2012.
AJ Lee debuted on WWE television on the series’ third season and became one of its few success stories as she ultimately went on to become a three-time Divas Champion.
And Regal – real name Darren Kenneth Matthews – recalled how the former RAW General Manager’s ability changed the landscape in the company.
The 2008 King of the Ring also credited AJ with paving the way for one of WWE’s biggest current stars in Bayley, who rose to fame as an excitable wrestling fan-girl.
Regal told SunSport: “I had an idea while I was on the NXT show, the ladies version of it, the game show version.
“My little niece used to call me and say ‘I like watching that Uncle Darren, can I have a T-shirt of AJ Lee’ and I went ‘they don’t make any’ and it just struck me.
My little niece used to call me and say “I like watching that Uncle Darren, can I have a T-shirt of AJ Lee” and I went “they don’t make any” and it just struck me.
William Regal
“We have Rey Mysterio for little boys. But we don’t have anything for little girls. I found that the character of Bayley came from an idea I had because AJ turned into something else after she left, she became very good at what she did.
“But the idea was to find somebody for a role and when I found Pam (Bayley), she would probably never have got hired before and I’ve got an idea that you can do this.
“She was willing to do anything so you go figure it out and then she went and figured out with Dusty (Rhodes) how to do it but I said this is the idea, we have nothing to market to little girls and it’s all about young boys.”
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley, who turned heel for the first time in career last year, helped usher in a Women’s Evolution in WWE that started in NXT.
The 30-year-old, alongside Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, formed the Four Horsewomen, and each became one of the biggest stars in the industry.
And Regal added: “I remember saying to (Triple) H that if we can get this fella and that fella, I only knew about Sasha (Banks) and people – nobody would give them a job.
“They were going “but she’s not this”, but once I got the actual official job, the first person, her, that’s the person I want because we’ve got these other fellows here. Seth (Rollins) and that, they’re cooking ready to go.
“But we needed to get the right women’s division. Charlotte was already trained and Becky was another one and Bayley added.
“It all seemed to come together, it seemed very quickly now but it wasn’t at the time.”
