WWE should use Eddie Guerrero’s last feud as a guide to Sasha Banks vs. Bayley

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks has the potential to be one of the best feuds in 2018, should WWE go that route. If they do, they have an easy template to use: Eddie Guerrero’s 2005 rivalry with Rey Mysterio.

Based on their interactions with one another over the past couple of weeks, it looks like WWE intends to move forward with a Bayley vs. Sasha Banks program in the near future. Honestly, both women need this feud to re-invigorate their characters. Banks has suffered from WWE positioning her as a choker–winning the Women’s title but never successfully defending it–along with the creative team burning through her feuds with Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax.

Bayley still hasn’t recovered from her character assassination over the summer–This is Your Life, being afraid to use a kendo stick, etc. This is a feud that both women need to reignite fans’ interest in them.

WWE can go in many directions with this impending rivalry. However, the story arch that will work best for both women would be one that mirrors the final major feud of Bank’s childhood idol, Eddie Guerrero.

Friends turned foes

Before his untimely passing, Guerrero spent the bulk of 2005 feuding with his real-life best friend, Rey Mysterio. They started the year as a team, winning the WWE Tag Team Championships from the Basham Brothers at No Way Out in February. Although they were teammates, they fought in numerous singles matches–including a fun opening clash at WrestleMania 21.

Despite their success as a duo, there was some underlying tension brewing between the two. Remember those singles matches I mentioned? Well, they all had similar finishes: Rey Mysterio winning. This began to eat away at “Latino Heat”. Their friction eventually cost them the tag titles and ultimately led to Guerrero turning on Mysterio.

As memorable as the vicious beatdown was, Eddie’s promo the following week was just as good. Gone was the fun-loving Guerrero who lied, cheated, and stole (as borderline racist as that gimmick was). This was a cold, uncaring, vindictive, obsessed, borderline psychotic “Latino Heat”.

The feud was simple, which is usually when pro wrestling works best. No matter how silly a feud gets, it shouldn’t fray away from the basic purpose of a wrestling match: two (or more) people fighting to determine who the better wrestler is. Guerrero’s rage stemmed his inability to beat Mysterio one on one.

Hardcore fans might have needed to suspend their disbelief a little–Guererro beat Mysterio several times in WCW–but the feud was grounded in reality and gave fans numerous great matches. Guerrero and Mysterio never topped their Mask vs. Title classic from Halloween Havoc 1997 (I implore you to watch that match any way you can, it’s awesome), but the bouts were a lot of fun.

“I’m Your Papi”

Unfortunately, as with many WWE feuds, this one got weird. Soon, Mysterio’s legit son Dominik was written into the storyline and was ultimately revealed to be Guerrero’s biological progeny. The whole thing was silly; Guerrero claimed Mysterio was sterile and gave him Dominik when Eddie knocked up some random woman. There were some highlights: Guerrero’s “I’m Your Papi” shirt was dope and he was fantastic in every segment he took part in.

But it didn’t make the storyline any less ridiculous; if Mysterio was “shooting blanks”, how did he sire a daughter? That was one of many problems with this part of the feud. Instead of settling this in court (you know, where ACTUAL custody hearings take place) Gurrerro and Mysterio competed in a ladder match for the custody of Dominik at SummerSlam. Of course, Mysterio came out on top once again.

Use the good, leave out the bad

WWE has plenty of Bayley/Banks history to draw from. After all, these ladies produced arguably the two best women’s matches in company history at consecutive NXT Takeovers back in 2015. Bayley won both of those classics, so WWE could use that as a sticking point whenever “The Boss” turns heel. WWE planted the seeds for this last Monday on RAW when Bayley brought up her success against Banks prior to “The Huggable One’s” match against Asuka.

The story wouldn’t take much thought. To start, Bayley could pin Sasha in the Elimination Chamber match, gaining some retribution for Banks eliminating her from the Royal Rumble. Banks then challenges Bayley to a friendly one on one match at WrestleMania, similar to Eddie vs Rey 13 years prior. The two have a good, clean match that Bayley ultimately wins (preferably with a roll-up). The next night on RAW, Banks can congratulate Bayley on her win. Just as all seems well…BAM! Sasha turns on Bayley brutalizes her–not to the level of Eddie’s attack on Mysterio, but malicious enough to “injure” Bayley for a couple of months.

Banks can cut a promo telling the fans how Bayley held her back or how Bayley only beat her because Banks was being too nice, but not anymore. Banks can take the women’s title off of Nia Jax (assuming Jax wrestles and beats Alexa Bliss at WrestleMania). Once Bayley returns, she and Banks can have some really heated, potentially classic championship matches over the summer.

Can WWE make this work?

Thankfully, issues like paternity and child custody won’t creep their way into this feud. Then again, this is the same company that brought us Katie Vick, HLA, P.M.S., “Eddiespoitation”, Piggie James, Billy Gunn in blackface, along with dozens of other stupid and tasteless storylines. This potential feud seems like a sure thing, but WWE is known to screw up near certainties (*cough* Invasion Angle *cough*). This company hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt.

To do this right, WWE must show a level of patience and consistency that doesn’t often appear on company airwaves.  If the writers and Vince McMahon do, Bayley vs. Sasha could be one of the best feuds of 2018, at least in the top three. The story and the template are there. The people in charge just have to use it.

Next: The Top 10 Greatest Moments In Elimination Chamber History

Feel free to throw this post back in my face when Vince books Bayley vs. Sasha in a ladder match for the custody of Bayley superfan Izzy. There’s a non-zero chance of that happening.