Women’s championship match
Half the Four Horsewomen. Two-thirds of the leaders of the Divas Revolution/Women’s Evolution.
Sasha Banks and Charlotte face off again with the title - and the future of women’s wrestling - on the line.
No pressure.
The Road to SummerSlam
Even when she had been effectively "disappeared" from our screens, the belief was WWE was grooming Sasha to become Women’s champion. Seeing as she’d been a part of an iconic NXT title match with Bayley at Barclays Center last August at TakeOver: Brooklyn, the thinking was she would win the main roster belt in the same building at SummerSlam this year.
Part of that thinking was that Charlotte, really starting to establish herself now that she was playing a heel and without having to share the spotlight with her Hall of Fame father, Ric Flair, deserved to hold the strap until the Biggest Party of the Summer.
Well, WWE thought differently. And these women delivered (again) on the July 25 episode of Raw.
Just as they have, together and separately, in NXT, and as they did, with Becky Lynch, at WrestleMania, the Nature Girl and the Boss gave it there all - and then some - and convinced a few more doubters that women performing in a pro wrestling ring can be every bit as awesome as when men do.
In kayfabe, Charlotte had been exposed as needing outside intervention to keep her title. While her win/loss record since being called up in the Summer of 2015 is nothing short of amazing, there’s always been someone there to provide an assist when she needed it. As a babyface, Lynch had her back. After kicking her dad to the curb, Dana Brooke stepped into the role.
Banks, in the best and most natural example of the influence of her hero Eddie Guerrero, set Brooke up for a fall in this match, tossing her the title belt and playing the victim just as the referee turned his attention to them. Without an accomplice, Charlotte was still impressive, but she didn’t have any cover when Sasha locked in the Banks Statement.
Since that match, it’s been a lot of business as usual (and not in any way that’s specific to women - just the typical WWE booking of title feuds in between pay-per-view (PPV) events). The Boss has lost, since that’s what champs do when their belt isn’t on the line.
But, Banks has achieved one important win since claiming the belt, and that was to defeat Dana in a match where the stipulation involved whether she could be at ringside at SummerSlam. Because of that victory, Sunday’s match will be contested without anyone seconding the second-generation Superstar.
Both women will still have lots of folks on their side.
What's at stake?
That’s the weird place female wrestlers within WWE find themselves right now. They’re playing out storylines, and striving for kayfabe gold (the ones lucky enough to be on Raw or NXT, anyway) against one another - but they’re also part of movement, a sisterhood, and being marketed as such.
So in Brooklyn, an arrogant heel with a legacy in the business who believes the championship is her destiny will enter the squared circle to try and wrest the belt away from her rival, an undersized lifelong fan who’s developed a big personality and dangerous moveset to achieve her dreams.
But it’s also two young ladies who know that not only their future prospects in WWE, but also the ability of countless others to have an equal playing field from which to strive toward their full potential in the pro wrestling business, could depend on their performance.
Charlotte and Sasha Banks have proven many times over they’re up to the task.
It should a hell of a show.