Bayley marks 18 years in professional wrestling – POST Wrestling

Bayley has marked 18 years since her first professional wrestling match, reflecting on a career that has taken her from the California independent scene to multiple WWE championships.

The 37-year-old posted a gallery of photographs from throughout her career on Instagram Saturday, noting that she was 18 when she began wrestling and has now spent the same length of time in the profession.

Bayley wrote that she had spent the previous two weeks traveling through South America and Mexico with WWE before attending a Lodestone reunion in Texas.

“I’m still having some of the greatest moments of my career, all these years in,” she wrote, adding that the people around her continue to push themselves and help fuel her own enthusiasm for wrestling.

Bayley, real name Pamela Martinez, made her first recorded appearance on September 19, 2008, for Big Time Wrestling in Newark, California. Wrestling as Davina Rose, she teamed with Shane Ballard in a loss to Melissa Coates & Shannon Ballard.

She spent the following four years working primarily on the independent circuit, including appearances for SHIMMER, before signing with WWE in late 2012 and adopting the Bayley name in NXT.

Her rise through NXT included defeating Sasha Banks for the NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver: Brooklyn in August 2015, before moving to WWE’s main roster the following year.

Bayley has since won the Raw and SmackDown women’s titles, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship and the current-generation WWE Women’s Championship. WWE also recognizes her as the first Women’s Grand Slam Champion.

She won the 2019 women’s Money in the Bank match and cashed in later that night to capture the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Five years later, Bayley won the 2024 women’s Royal Rumble before defeating IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania XL.

Reflecting on the milestone, Bayley said she remained grateful for everything from matches and travel to conversations and time spent in locker rooms.

“How lucky am I,” she wrote, “to still live and LOVE this childhood dream?”