Bayley Opens Up About Recent 'Humbling' WWE Experience

Bayley's recent time off from the WWE taught her a valuable lesson, the three-time World Champion acknowledged this week. In a new interview with The National News on Friday, the Damage CTRL leader said her long-term absence from in-ring competition was a "humbling experience" because it showed the human body's limitations.

"It was a very humbling experience because I've never had surgery. I've never been away from wrestling aside for maybe a couple months for a shoulder injury. But it was super-humbling because my body wasn't as strong as I thought it would be," Bayley said. Bayley recently took on the WWE "Raw" Women's Champion Bianca Belair in a historic Last Woman Standing match at the Crown Jewel premium live event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. If she had pulled off the victory, it would have marked Bayley's fourth world championship in her near 10-year run with the company. She has twice held the WWE "SmackDown" Women's Championship in addition to one run with the "Raw" Women's Championship, but Belair ended up retaining her title.

Bayley tore her ACL last year while training at the WWE's Performance Center in Orlando, keeping her out of the ring for nine months. She eventually returned to WWE television at SummerSlam earlier this year, interrupting Belair's celebration following her title defense against Becky Lynch at the event. Bayley told The National News that her time off was a blessing, in some ways. "I really did enjoy the time off and because it's been almost nine or 10 years since I've had any time off with this WWE schedule as a performer," the longtime WWE star said. "So I enjoyed it as much as I could with my family and my friends and just tried to see the plus side of it."