10 Wrestlers Who Drew REAL Heat In The Post-Kayfabe Age
9. Sasha Banks
Like so many other modern heels, great as Sasha Banks was in the role, she was so great the fanbase was split between performative hatred and contrarian support.
Sasha's work at TakeOver: Respect was doubly remarkable.
Not only did she strip the layers of irony away from the divisive Full Sail regulars, to reveal a sense of raw emotion typically only felt when the babyfaces came good (Sami Zayn, American Alpha); she did so after effectively turning babyface following the Brooklyn curtain call. The rematch was predicated on the very idea that the two women had earned one another's respect, but Sasha didn't just have to restore the beauty of the dynamic: per the rule of the sequel, she had to intensify it.
That she did with an outstanding and audacious in-the-moment heel gambit. She removed the headband from innocent Bayley super-fan Izzy and threw it back at her. The contrast in those visuals was stunning: Sasha's aggression; Izzy's flood of tears; her father's knowing but come on, that's too much expression.
This was expressive, free-form pro wrestling so stunningly effective that it was thought, for a time, Sasha held the keys to a great new era of WWE.