7 PPV Quality Main Events WWE Gave Away For Free

4. Charlotte Vs Sasha Banks (Monday Night Raw, 25th July 2016)

Vince McMahon Stone Cold Steve Austin Eric Bischoff
WWE.com

Prematurely presented in order to promote Monday Night Raw's 'New Era' in the wake of the 2016 Draft, the Sasha Banks/Charlotte Raw Women's Title match was a fabulous exhibition of their long history and extensive skills, but raised expectations to the point where it inadvertently hijacked the supposedly bigger contest planned for SummerSlam the following month.

Curiously, it set a trend for their battles over 2016, with the TV matches ordinarily stealing the show and ending in victory for Banks, whilst Charlotte dominated on pay-per-view, normally en route to retaining her title.

Matches at the August classic and co-main events at Hell In A Cell and Roadblock: End of the Line couldn't touch their genuine thrillers on Raw, with this blistering opening salvo setting an almost impossible standard for the remainder of the year.

The trend of hot potato'ing the Women's Title has only recently come to an end with the current reign of Alexa Bliss. Bayley's two months between February and April 2017 marked the longest reign since Charlotte's original tenure, with the constant switches between 'The Boss' and 'The Queen' doing far more damages than their quality outings could rectify.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett