Sasha Banks and Charlotte have traded the WWE Women’s Championship for the better part of 2016, resulting in three title reigns for each superstar. Every one of Sasha’s championship victories came on an episode of RAW , whereas Charlotte would defeat The Boss at the SummerSlam and Hell In A Cell pay-per-views.
The decision to put Sasha over on Monday nights and Charlotte over on the more high-profile events was made primarily to keep Charlotte’s pay-per-view streak intact. Since her debut in the summer of 2015 (which, of course, coincided with Sasha and Becky Lynch’s main roster debut as well) Charlotte has not lost a singles match at a pay-per-view, which totals 11 bouts in all. She’s also been involved in tag team, triple threat, and Survivor Series elimination matches.
Charlotte bested Sasha in the main event of the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, which just so happened to take place in Sasha’s hometown of Boston. They made history, not only by becoming the first women to main event a WWE pay-per-view, but they were the first women to wrestle inside Hell in a Cell.
Sasha Banks Versus Charlotte is Ruining the “Women’s Revolution” in WWE https://t.co/EMVGbZWNhb pic.twitter.com/ENSUs5iSj3
— PWP Nation (@PWPNation) December 1, 2016
Sasha, of course, would return the favor a little less than a month later by defeating The Queen on RAW in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte’s father, Ric Flair, added another layer to their rivalry by appearing on WWE television for the first time in six months and celebrating with Sasha instead of consoling his own daughter.
Flair’s absence, of course, stemmed from a segment that saw Charlotte berate her father and banish him from her side back in May. Fast forward to this past Monday as Charlotte, Flair, and Sasha were featured in the coveted final segment again, one week after their championship match headlined the evening.
After a faux apology, Charlotte slapped her father, criticizing him for joining Sasha in the ring the previous week. The bigger news on Monday, however, came when Sasha challenged Charlotte to finish their feud in an Ironman match at Roadblock: End of the Line . Charlotte accepted, and as the Inquisitr reported on Tuesday, it’s expected to be the end of the rivalry for quite some time.
When It’s All Said And Done Charlotte vs Sasha Banks Will Go Down As One Of The Greatest Rivalry’s In The History Of Wrestling pic.twitter.com/fo5KWbbzai
— Slice Wrestling (@EntSlice) November 29, 2016
This will be the second 30-minute Ironman match for Sasha under the WWE umbrella. She and Bayley headlined the NXT Takeover: Respect show last October, which resulted in Bayley retaining the NXT Women’s Championship, and Sasha wrestling her final match in NXT.
It’s not a surprise that a stipulation is being added to what should be the final match in this chapter of their rivalry. But according to a report from Wrestling Inc , it wasn’t the only stipulation being tossed around backstage. Apparently, Charlotte and Sasha pitched the idea of a Ladder match to WWE officials but were turned down. And some of those officials themselves pitched for the match to be held inside a steel cage.
Eventually, they settled, of course, on an Ironman match. WWE officials decided against a steel cage match because of the similarities to a Hell in a Cell match, which is used more frequently to pay off an angle anyway. And there had been talk earlier in the year about the women having a Money in the Bank ladder match of their own, so there is a feeling internally that they want to save a women’s ladder match for that special occasion.
What remains interesting is who the company decides will ultimately come out on top of this program. There was talk of maintaining Charlotte’s pay-per-view winning streak intact up until WrestleMania , indicating that she’d regain the championship. However, it’s become more and more likely that she’ll be facing Ronda Rousey at that event, so no title is necessary for that match-up. Instead, the title plan discussions have revolved around Sasha and Bayley if they green-light the Sasha heel turn that’s expected in early 2017.
[Featured Image by WWE]