WrestleMania: WWE booking has damaged a Banks versus Belair main event

When Bianca Belair won the Women’s 2021 Royal Rumble, fans erupted in joy because they knew it would mean a face-off against Sasha Banks. The Banks versus Belair match is something that wrestling fans have wanted to see since Belair’s rise on NXT. Now, the moment is here and there is a push for these two ladies to share a historic moment as the main event of the first night of WrestleMania. Unfortunately, it does not seem like that is what is going to happen, and looking at the events leading up to Mania, there needs to be a serious discussion about whether these ladies were “cooled off” to justify their placement on the card if they aren’t the main event.

The first word that should be used to describe the booking around Banks versus Belair should be horrible. Whether it is the matches they have participated in, the promo segments, and the involvement of Reginald, everything about the build for their WrestleMania singles match has been head-scratching bad.

To start, look at their match results. Belair has won one singles match since January, and that was against Shayna Baszler on March 5. Sasha Banks has also only one victory in that same time span, defeating Nia Jax on March 19. The only other victory these two ladies have is when Reginald pinned Nia Jax on Feb. 19 in an intergender six-person tag. How is that supposed to keep people interested in the two people set to compete for a world title? Compare this to how Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Roman Reigns, Edge, Daniel Bryan, or even Seth Rollins and Cesaro have been built in recent weeks; there is a complete difference between the scenarios.

Then, what exactly are they feuding over? At the end of the day, the focus should be on the WWE SmackDown Women’s Title that Banks has held for 150 days. Instead, the focus was around Reginald, until the end of the match at Fastlane where Banks slapped Belair. Why not build this match around the two women wanting nothing more than to be considered the best in the division with that title around their waist? WWE Creative took the steps to make this about a man, devolving into the two women fighting over his involvement, an unfortunate booking decision that has impacted any interest in this match.

The discussion around the booking of Banks versus Belair lends itself to a larger conversation about the booking of the women’s division on the main roster. All the main roster women’s titles have not received the best booking in a long time. There were bright spots, such as the Banks and Bayley run in 2020, but it has left much more to be desired than not. Therefore, it is not surprising that the WWE has made a mess of what should be easy booking between two of the most captivating names in professional wrestling.

Perhaps the promotion does not want someone like Banks or Belair to gain more attention that leads to outside opportunities – such as those that led to Banks being featured on The Mandalorian. Whatever the reason, WWE has done a lot of damage to what should be a historic moment in professional wrestling come to WrestleMania.