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Bayley-Sasha Banks II at WWE NXT TakeOver: The Rematch After “The Match”

By Michael Whitlow

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After Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to win the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT: TakeOver in Brooklyn last month, most claimed it was the best women’s wrestling match they had ever seen. Although that can be debated, their rematch being in the main event of a TakeOver event shouldn’t be.

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For over 18 minutes last month, I was literally sucked into one of the best pure wrestling matches I had ever watched during NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and her top challenger Bayley, put on one of the greatest displays in the history of women’s wrestling.

Bayley finally broke through and defeated Banks to win the gold, but after the match reached the conclusion, that part seemingly didn’t matter.

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Banks is owed her rematch as the former champion, but how on Earth could the two combatants top one of the best matches that this generation of fans have ever seen? Thankfully, NXT general manager William Regal had our answer during this past Wednesday’s episode of NXT at Full Sail University.

Before I go any further with this, there’s two major details to cover:

  1. Two women will be in the main event of a WWE/NXT program.
  2. A 30-minute Iron Woman match for the NXT Women’s Championship.

No women’s match has ever main-evented a WWE program, let alone NXT

Jeremy Manuel of FanSided’s Hidden Remote broke down the entire Bayley-Banks segment from Wednesday’s show. Not only did he mention how perfect Bayley’s homecoming to Full Sail was, he said Bayley-Sasha Banks II could “probably the most anticipated match in the history of NXT”. This excerpt from Manuel’s piece tells you all you need to know about how awesome this rematch is going to be.

Manuel wrote,

"And when the crowd realized what was about to happen as Banks turned down Bayley’s offer of a 2 out of 3 falls match, saying that she wanted to beat her “over and over and over” because she had something to prove, the Full Sail faithful got wise and immediately started chanting “Iron Woman! Iron Woman!” and Banks and Bayley both looked all but unable to stifle their smiles at how the fans were reacting to the prospect of such a match. That also goes for NXT GM William Regal’s appearance, as he too looked almost gleeful as he officially announced the bout, with a smile doing its best to peek out from his lips."

A main event for two women on WWE programming is something that has never been talked about, let alone suggested by anyone. It’s a big deal to be in a main event. A part of the reason Phil “CM Punk” Brooks left WWE was because he wanted to main event a WrestleMania (and rightfully should have) and never got his shot. Being in a main event, whether at WrestleMania or NXT, is huge. The fact that two women who are damn good at their job are finally getting that shot is tremendous.

30 minutes of pure women’s wrestling is something that’s never been done before

There have been just nine Iron Man matches in WWE history. There hasn’t been an Iron Man match on WWE programming in six years. No women’s match has ever progressed to the 30-minute mark. The longest match on record for a women’s match in WWE is 20 minutes, and that was a Survivor Series Elimination match back in 1987.

So, when you’re asking yourself how can Bayley and Sasha Banks can top their previous encounter, we’ve been given that answer in the form of an Iron Woman match for the gold.

I’m not saying it’s going to top what was done at WrestleMania XII back in 1996, but the fact that Bayley and Sasha Banks are being given a platform to the likes of “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels and Bret “The Hitman” Hart is something that true wrestling fans have to be salivating about next month.

What makes the Bayley-Sasha rematch that much better has been the story during the feud. The booking each week has been fantastic. From Bayley’s video package over past failures in her quest to become NXT Women’s Champion to Sasha’s boss-like entrance in Brooklyn, everything about this program has been superb (including the “Four Horsewomen Curtain Call“). Banks’ appearance back on NXT this past Wednesday helped set up a perfectly done promo between the two women. It’s the cliché “underdog vs. big, bad favorite”, but the two women have crushed every bit of their final work in NXT together.

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These two deserve nothing less than the main event spot next month at TakeOver: Respect. How so? Think back to how you felt during the Kevin Owens-Finn Balor rematch from Japan for the NXT title. The two competed in a grueling 22-minute ladder match, and you found yourself still thinking about the Bayley-Sasha match in the segment prior.

Hell, outside of the Kevin Owens-Cesaro match and the Seth Rollins-John Cena title for title showdown, what really stood out the next night at SummerSlam? Sure, Jon Stewart was Jon Stewart and The Undertaker provided the meme face of the decade, but did you think that the big card of the weekend was on Sunday? I know I didn’t. I was still trying to process how Sasha Banks landed on her neck virtually and competed the next night.

Bayley and Sasha Banks have done more than earned the main event of NXT TakeOver: Respect in 19 days. They’ve shown that women have a bigger role in wrestling than just seven-minute segments of seemingly filming scenes for Total Divas and eating up time on Raw’s card. They’ve shown that women can wrestle, and maybe once in a while, they might just steal the show.

Next: WWE NXT Review for September 16

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