10 Wrestlers That Have Soared Since WWE WrestleMania 35
For when WWE's season finale provides a fresh start...
Sasha Banks' recent Chronicle special featured a number of remarks which were - as per for these specials - tacitly damaging towards WWE before being repurposed as a story of personal growth.
Despite the obvious angles, the story wasn't one of a major fallouts between performer and profession, independent contractor and company or Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado and Vince McMahon. It was about something The Chairman perhaps has no handle on - mental health.
Banks was exhausted by her life as a professional wrestler. The emotional evocative highs of her early years within the organisation had been usurped by several bitter experiences that helped cultivate a mutual disinterest between her and the creative team that she'd have once thought unimaginable. A thing she loved openly - she weeps for how much she needs it, so powerful is its control - has become the thing consuming her whole, to such a degree that her appearance on its showcase left her feeling "nothing".
WrestleMania 35, understandably in context, was perhaps the darkest day in Sasha Banks' life. The only way was up for her from there, as it was for her best friend and nine others getting mis-sold their evening on 'The Grandest Stage'...
10. Bayley
The malfunctioning wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men provided quite a fitting visual metaphor for the entire women's tag division as Bayley and Sasha Banks made their less-than-spirited WrestleMania 35 entrance.
Banks' aforementioned disinterest in the match was splashed across her face, but 'The Hugger' surely felt just as dejected with the booking decision even if she did a slightly better job of hiding it. A quick loss to the returning Alexa Bliss on the post-WrestleMania Raw can't have helped, but the sudden absence of 'The Boss' created a window of opportunity for the partner left behind.
Bayley's revived babyface fire on SmackDown rapidly resulted in a Women's Title Win after Becky Lynch lost to Charlotte Flair in her first defence of the blue brand strap at Money In The Bank. Leaving the pay-per-view with the belt rather than the briefcase, Bayley established her dominance over the summer months before linking back up with 'The Boss' shortly after her shocking post-SummerSlam return.
As heels, both look reborn in their previously over-familiar roles. No longer being taken for granted as characters and wrestlers, their 2019 has been an escape from the abyss.