Why Sasha Banks Vs Bayley Means So Much To So Many

‘The Hugger’ fittingly got by both Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair to get her shot on what was set to be the biggest TakeOver ever, having also fought through injuries and other setbacks that allowed Banks to overlook her without appearing ill-prepared. It was a perfect fusion of where both personas were at, even if it was obscured until after the fact. In the aftermath of her win, Bayley was kept on NXT by request of Triple H because she was at the level to carry the entire brand and division in the absence of the other three. Meanwhile Banks’ loss was presented as a torch-passing moment even though the reality was that both had grabbed one from the decision-making men that had failed their peers in the past.

The match itself exists as permanent crystallised evidence of how successful the process had been. It was the point at which "...for a women's match" would never be a qualifier in WWE (or at very least NXT) ever again. It took any remaining holdouts married to the idea of the Divas Division or the company's rotten-to-the-core history with female athletes and poison rana'd the f*ck out of them. Spilling over with the sort of heart and soul Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander told of but couldn't show on a WrestleMania Kickoff, this was ground zero for a genre in the same way Rey Mysterio's jaw-dropping lucha stylings lit up the mid-90s scene, or Stone Cold Steve Austin's anti-hero cool finally helped the company catch up to contemporary culture. It didn't just capture credit and acclaim, but emotion. Palpable, marketable emotion.

A white hot audience received every beat with the end-of-the-world reverence it deserved, and when it (and one sequel the following month) was over, they couldn't wait to see it on an even grander stage.

They trusted the process.

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