WWE News: Creative Thinking Behind Ending The Feud Between Charlotte & Sasha Banks
The rivalry between Charlotte and Sasha Banks fittingly came to a close at Sunday night’s Roadblock: End of the Line pay-per-view — or at least this version of it anyway. In fact, it may have been the only feud to reach its conclusion as RAW produced the WWE’s final pay-per-view of 2016. And appropriately enough, Charlotte and Sasha put a bow on their program with a 30-minute Iron Man match, even though 30 minutes wasn’t enough.
Charlotte forced Sasha to tap out to the Figure-Eight seconds before time expired in regulation, resulting in a sudden death overtime period. A bloodied Sasha tapped again just under five minutes later, resulting in Charlotte recapturing the RAW Women’s Championship for a fourth time.
The rivalry between Charlotte and Sasha predates their main roster arrival but unfolded before WWE’s worldwide audience immediately upon their promotions last summer. Things revved up between the two for WrestleMania, which also included the presence of Becky Lynch. But once Sasha recovered from several post-Mania injuries, 2016 was all about The Boss and The Queen as it pertained to the women’s division.
The RAW Women’s Championship was introduced in April, replacing the outdated Divas Title, and in the eight months since, Charlotte and Sasha have traded it back and forth a total of seven times. All three of Sasha’s championship victories came during an episode of RAW, while Charlotte was victorious on each of the four pay-per-views, where the two clashed in a singles match.
The latter is significant because Charlotte has never lost a singles match at a pay-per-view in her WWE career, with Roadblock marking the 14th consecutive event without a one-on-one defeat. Plans for her WrestleMania program could go one of two ways at this point, but it’s not a coincidence that her pay-per-view winning streak is chasing her father’s record of 16 world title reigns.
In the most recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer indicated that WWE officials want Bayley as Charlotte’s next challenger but wanted to hold off on a match between the two until the Royal Rumble. This is largely why Charlotte’s feud with Sasha extended on for so long, as they didn’t want to rush pairing Bayley up with either one just yet.
So at WrestleMania, Charlotte will either see her four-month-plus feud with Bayley (depending on when it begins) reach its culmination with the title on the line, or she’ll have the rumored marquee program with UFC star, Ronda Rousey. If Rousey agrees to a deal, look for Bayley then to transition back to Sasha in a title program, presumably after Charlotte dropped it again at a non-pay-per-view event.
The Inquisitr previously noted how Sasha and Charlotte were pushing for a ladder match to close out the rivalry at Roadblock, while other WWE officials were campaigning for a steel cage match. In the end, the decision was made to go with an Iron Man match because the cage would have been too much of a resemblance to their Hell in a Cell bout. There is also talk that the company is saving a ladder match for Money in the Bank.
Not only did the WWE want to continue Charlotte’s pay-per-view winning streak, but Meltzer pointed out that Vince McMahon remains skeptical on Sasha Banks. This is in large part due to her work style and injury history. It remains to be seen whether she’ll get a significant run with the title in the future, but it’s extremely telling that her three reigns have lasted a combined 74 days, with 27 being the longest.
With Charlotte expected to move on to Bayley, look for Sasha to enter a short-term transitional program with either Nia Jax or Emma. Emma is re-debuting as Emmalina, but it has yet to be established whether she’ll be performing as a babyface or a heel.
[Featured Image by WWE]
