A Brief History Of The WWE Women’s Revolution (Part 3)

"THE Main Event"

The call up of Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks to the main WWE roster was monumental, but it was also conditional. Rather than risk gutting the NXT division and not have women who were ready to fill the gap, these three women would continue to work NXT as well as appear for RAW, SmackDown Live and WWE’s marquee special events.

This schedule was possible because the format of NXT was to record around 4 episodes worth of matches in one night at Full Sail University, then edit them and broadcast them for the WWE Network’s once-a-week programming.

Some episodes in fact had already been recorded featuring these women before their live appearance on RAW in July. One such episode would showcase the last title match between defending Champion Sasha Banks and challenger Charlotte. It was a match that was again given main event status.

Broadcast on July 15th, 2015 – a day after the live RAW Revolution episode – and much like their previous encounter, the bout was a slow burn and perhaps a little on the boring side. That was until its third act where past hostilities not only bubbled to the service, they erupted. This would be a testament to how far both Banks and Charlotte had come, feeding off the crowd and knowing when the match needed to liven up to bring the audience to attention.

In the end it was a good match for Charlotte to bow out from; she would stick around for a few more matches before transitioning to WWE-proper, but this would be the most memorable of the lot.

Sasha Banks was still the champ and before she could follow suit and join Charlotte full time, a final feud on the developmental brand was in order that, to the expectation of no-one, would end up being legendary.

Photo credit: WWE.com

Out of the 4 talents popularly known by fans today as WWE’s Four Horsewomen – a nod to the Four Horsemen group of the 1980’s and 1990’s lead by Charlotte’s father Ric Flair – Bayley was the most consistent. For a long time though in NXT developmental, she was also the least remarkable.

Bayley was the perennial ‘Good Guy‘, a squeaky clean wholesome character that always did the right thing and not once had turned bad. Bayley was the ideal Babyface WWE could market to the youngest of fans as a role model, and better still she managed to portray her character without it coming across as phony or contrived. Bayley was a genuinely likable person.

The trouble was there was a limit to how much she was connecting with audiences who had seen the passion and intensity in the performances of her peers. Bayley was almost at that level, and on good nights could equal any of her contemporaries, but she was not ready to be called up with them.

A match was setup between Bayley and Becky Lynch to decide the No#1 contender to Sasha Bank’s championship, and was broadcast on the August 12, 2015 episode of NXT TV (37:37 on WWE Network). This women’s match was yet another headliner for the revolutionary WWE brand.

Though there seemed to be an even split in crowd support between Lynch and Bayley, most of the audience watching at Full Sail and even those at home via the WWE Network, were expecting a win from Lynch. The Irish star had put on the performance of a lifetime with Sasha Banks at the earlier TakeOver and it made sense that their rivalry should continue.

Instead the finish of the fairly lengthy, evenly contested match was Bayley winning with a surprise roll-up pin. Everyone was stunned – even the champion Sasha Banks who was watching from the commentary table.

From: WWE Network

The look on Banks’ face was priceless. It is unknown whether Banks was aware of the result before it happened – she either acted to perfection or was genuinely surprised.

The title match was set and would take place at the brand’s first foray outside of Full Sail: NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn (WWE Network). Taking place the same weekend as the big WWE attraction SummerSlam, the NXT event would benefit from some of the same production values as its big brother counterpart. NXT had truly arrived as a brand that could stand on its own as a Pro Wrestling attraction; one that had evolved so far beyond just a developmental system.

On that night but before the Banks vs Bayley title match took place, Stephanie McMahon had come down to the ring to congratulate and celebrate the achievement of the show with the sold out, 15,000+ audience.

More pertinently to this series, McMahon made reference to the official “Diva’s Revolution” that had taken place on RAW a couple of weeks earlier, and how that revolution had started with the third brand.

"“Triple H said earlier today, he doesn’t just put them in the Main Event, he said they ARE the Main Event.” – Stephanie McMahon to the audience, referring to the women wrestling at NXT TakeOver: Brookyln (August 22nd, 2015)"

Stephanie McMahon would refer to “The Boss” Sasha Banks vs “The Ultimate Underdog” Bayley as the first main event of the evening, but its card placement was in support of Kevin Owens vs Finn Balor for the men’s NXT championship – the headline attraction.

The bout order would not ultimately matter. Banks versus Bayley stole the show at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. Both women pushed their bodies further, took risks that were higher and landings that were harder.

This was Banks at her most sadistic and Bayley at her most heroic. The fire that was not there in many of Bayley”s earlier matches was roaring at the Barclays Center. Both women had something to prove that night and both proved they not only belonged in the main event, but could have matches just as good as the men.

The match in fact wound up on many fans’ and pundits’ Match of the Year lists for 2015. Almost as many were calling it the greatest women’s match they had ever seen in WWE.

After a breathtaking finale that saw an insane and legitimately dangerous top rope spot, Bayley hit her signature suplex for the second time that night, and to the shock and delight of the crowd won the match. Bayley was the new NXT Women’s Champion.

A few minutes into the victory celebration in a moment that may or may not have been scripted ( Pro Wrestling will always blur the lines between reality and fiction) Bayley was lifted onto the shoulders of Charlotte and Becky Lynch.

Sasha Banks herself seemed to break character and, caught up in the emotion of the moment, embraced Bayley. All four women were well aware of what they had achieved in the two years they had spent together in NXT.

Not knowing what the immediate future held, this was also perhaps a moment for Charlotte, Lynch and Banks to say their farewell to Bayley as they fully transitioned to the main WWE shows. All of them threw up 4 fingers each to symbolize the Horsewomen moniker NXT fans had taken to calling them.

Fate as it turned out was not done with Sasha Banks and Bayley in NXT just yet.