Bayley’s return to WWE has quickly turned into a personal issue for Lyra Valkyria, but the way WWE followed up on that story has now drawn criticism from Vince Russo.
Bayley made her surprise return on the September 7 episode of RAW, immediately inserting herself into Valkyria’s path. During Valkyria’s Money in the Bank qualifying match, Bayley pulled the referee out of the ring, allowing Sol Ruca to steal the victory before Bayley attacked Valkyria after the bell.
One week later, Bayley addressed Valkyria in a pre-taped promo on the September 14 edition of RAW. She made it clear that costing Valkyria the Money in the Bank opportunity was only the beginning and warned that she would continue getting in her way.
That is where Vince Russo’s criticism came in.
Speaking on The Coach and Bro Show, the former WWE writer argued that Bayley’s delivery made the segment feel less like a genuine promo and more like she was simply reading from a script.
I swear. My God, when they did that pretape with Bayley on Raw, bro, it literally felt like she was reading every single word off a teleprompter. I’m like, ‘She’s reading a prompter. There’s no way she memorized all this.’
Russo stressed that his issue was not with Bayley or the direction of her feud with Valkyria. Instead, he felt the presentation took away from the emotion that should have been driving the segment.
It’s lacking emotion, and literally they put a script up on a teleprompter and she’s reading it. Come on, guys, we gotta be better.
So while Bayley’s return has established a clear reason for her rivalry with Valkyria, Russo believes the follow-up promo could have felt much more natural.
Did Bayley’s promo work for you, or did the delivery feel too scripted? Let us know in the comments.
