3. Bayley (c) Vs. Sasha Banks - TakeOver: Respect
It might not top this list, but few would argue against the 30 minute Ironman match between Sasha Banks and Bayley at TakeOver: Respect being the most important wrestling match of the year under the WWE umbrella. In a year of supposed 'revolutions' and guard-changing, these two went out and put on a classic worthy of main eventing any show at any time. It was the perfect climax to the NXT portion of a rivalry that will surely resurface on the main roster, but whether Banks and Bayley can do for the divas what they did for the women in NXT remains to be seen. Still, the importance of this match cannot be overstated. All of which makes it easy to forget how good the match itself was. The crowd were hugely into from the very start, and Bayley and Banks told one hell of a story over the thirty minutes. They frequently called back to various points of their rivalry, and took advantage of the stipulation with a number of inventive spots throughout. Bayley would prevail, winning three falls to Banks' two, with the final fall coming in the dying seconds as Banks tapped out to a particularly vicious variation of the Rings of Saturn.
John Bills
Contributor
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
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