10 Best NXT Champions Of The Black And Gold Era
9. Sasha Banks
It goes to show just how many great champions NXT had that The Boss enters at just number nine. Don’t take this placement as a slight against Sasha Banks: she was at the forefront of one of the most important moments in WWE history when she got her hands on the NXT Women’s Championship.
Whilst the company bleated constantly about creating the “women’s revolution” in 2016 by swapping the Raw Women’s Championship every few weeks, in actuality it all began in NXT the year previous.
No better is this proven than NXT TakeOver: Rival, where Banks claimed the Women’s Championship in the only ever Four Horsewomen fatal four-way in history.
And naturally, Banks’ time as The Boss with the belt was sublime. She would’ve overshadowed lesser competitors with her innate skill but as it so happened she had a stacked roster of opponents to craft magic with: Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss and a breakout performance for Becky Lynch.
More than that, the match where she finally dropped the belt after her 192-day reign is often regarded as one of the best women’s matches of all time. Sasha Banks vs Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn was a statement that the WWE had changed and The Boss was at the forefront of it.