Why WWE Just Made Its Biggest Mistake In YEARS
Up against coverage of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, competition more fierce than sports, Sasha's November 6 victory over Bayley represented WWE's biggest ratings hit of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bleak, sterile compromise that was the ThunderDome didn't matter to the viewing public; they, 2.52 million of them, were deeply invested in watching Sasha Banks in a big time title fight with the promise of an actual finish. WWE could not hope to draw that number now, even as fans have returned and everything feels less unremittingly grim. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer attributed the "entire" rating to Sasha's match; the overall and 18-49 numbers declined sharply the second that Sasha retreated up the ramp, title belt in tow.
Sasha is still only 30 years old. Her wrestler's prime years are ahead of her. She is the best women's wrestler in North America, and if that's a subjective opinion, it is close to the consensus. Her frenetic bursts of offence are wild and engaging, she links her repertoire brilliantly and with high intensity to come across as a tenacious submission wizard, and few wrestlers on the planet, irrespective of promotion or gender, sell like total death for her opponents as she does. Most impressively, she works (or worked) for a promotion that aims to regulate the level of danger between the ropes. She isn't getting dumped on her head or being smashed in the safer spaces of her face; she is just incredible at making the physicality feel far more violent than it actually is.
CONT'D...(3 of 6)