WWE Raw: Results, Analysis, Highlights, and Grades for March 26

Well, So Much for the Slow Burn

It’s been a long time coming – months, really – but apparently the friendship between Sasha Banks and Bayley is finally over. My big problem with this: By truly “breaking them up” before WrestleMania, the entire focus of the Women’s Battle Royal is going to be squarely on these two.

It’s not necessarily the worst thing in the world, but it’s unfair to everyone else in the match. The whole point of having a battle royal on the card is to give everyone a relatively story-free spot on the show. Maybe there’s a “you can’t eliminate this superstar” type of story here or there, but things shouldn’t really be centered around any one or two superstars.

Instead, all eyes are on Sasha and Bayley. It also cheapens the big blowoff to their rivalry – what kind of followup are we going to get to really let these two go at it? If things happen in the battle royal, any future match will be less impactful, in my opinion.

But the way we got to the “breakup” was pretty satisfying. Bayley standing up for herself – even if it was a little on the whiny side – is the most character development she’s gotten since (checks calendar), uh, NXT? Bringing the Women’s Championship into the discussion – and Sasha’s inability to successfully defend said title – was the perfect trigger to blow up.

Well done on the actual brawl, even if the battle royal is going to kind of tamp it down a bit.