Sasha Banks vs. Bayley – Hell In A Cell
One of the WWE’s glimmering bright spots throughout the pandemic is their women’s star power – Charlotte, Asuka, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, and Shotzi Blackheart, amongst others, have aided the company’s talent pool, but maybe nobody has anchored the division more than Bayley and Sasha Banks.
Immediately making it known they were one of the lockdown era’s main acts, Bayley and Banks went about winning the women’s tag team titles in May (whilst Bayley was SmackDown women’s champion). Billed the ‘Golden Role Models’, the obnoxious yet entertaining duo were obviously going to be split up, but fans didn’t know Banks would turn face for months. Bayley betrayed Banks in September after dropping the tag straps, brutally attacking ‘The Boss’.
With the stage set, the duo put on a thrilling match inside the devil’s playground. Constantly performing unique spots, Banks elevated it – who is one of the most overlooked yet realistic sellers in WWE today. With Sasha’s loose-limb selling came Bayley’s brilliant character work; the hard-hitting offense seemed even viler and wincing. With a creative chair-assisted Bank Statement, ‘The Boss’ ended ‘The Role Models’ lengthy title reign before beating Bayley on SmackDown to retain – breaking Banks drought of always losing the women’s title on her first defence.
A brilliant match with an easy-to-follow story, proved the strength of both competitors – creating one of the greatest women’s matches of the year. It may seem a little deflating that after half a year of build, their rivalry only lasted for a month, but even if there will only be one match – at least it was done beautifully.