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As things currently sit, both Bayley and Sasha Banks hold all of the gold available to WWE women on RAW or SmackDown. Collectively, they are the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions. Bayley is the longest current reigning title holder as SmackDown Women's Champion. And after "beating" Asuka in a match with many stipulations, while Banks is the RAW Women's Champ.
The Boss is slated to have a rematch with the Empress of Tomorrow at SummerSlam. After outlasting several women from all three brands of WWE, Asuka will now also challenge Bayley for the SmackDown Women's title at the Biggest Party of the Summer.
While the two best friends have done a good job as the top heels of SmackDown, I can't help but feel that both women need to lose their respective singles belts at SummerSlam. They are only two women in a division of over 20 talented stars. It's past time that some other WWE female performers get a chance to shine.
Both women losing at the Biggest Party of the Summer would mean that Asuka would become a double Champion, but she is certainly more than deserving of that accolade. When someone wins two titles like that, however, they usually drop one or relinquish a belt rather quickly.
SummerSlam is often treated as the second biggest/most important PPV of the WWE PPV schedule. With Braun Strowman facing The Fiend, and Randy Orton challenging Drew McIntyre, the top matches for the men are set. Will Strowman and McIntyre lose their titles? It's anyone's guess. But here are five reasons why both Bayley and Banks need to lose their singles titles at SummerSlam.
#5 Asuka already has a built-in feud on RAW if she wins
Ever since Baszler debuted at the beginning of 2020, she has targeted mainly two women - former RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch, and her successor, Asuka. Baszler was still treated like a big deal, lasting until the final two in this year's Royal Rumble before being eliminated by winner Charlotte Flair. The Queen of Spades also eliminated a WWE record eight women in the match.
At the Elimination Chamber PPV, Baszler eliminated every participant including the Empress of Tomorrow as the final elimination. That win earned the former NXT Champ a shot at Lynch at WrestleMania 36 but Lynch retained.
Both Asuka and Baszler were in the 2020 Money in the Bank match with Asuka winning. After Sasha Banks won the RAW Women's title from the Empress of Tomorrow, the Queen of Spades later claimed that she hoped Asuka would beat Banks for the title. She (Baszler) wanted to rip the title away from the Empress once again.
More recently, the Queen of Spades and the Empress were the last two women in WWE's Triple Brand Battle Royal to determine Bayley's opponent for SummerSlam.
If Asuka wins the RAW Women's title, she has a challenger ready and waiting, and one that she has been going back and forth with for the better part of the last five months. It would be a great feud with two of the legitimate bad**s women in WWE.
#4 They can focus on the WWE Women's Tag titles
One of the bittersweet facts about becoming the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Champs was that despite winning the titles, Bayley and Banks lost them rather quickly. After an emotional win at the 2019 Elimination Chamber PPV, the Boss 'N' Hug Connection lost the belts a month later at WrestleMania 35. They did defend the belts at Fastlane but the reign was still short.
If both women lose at SummerSlam, they'll still hold the WWE Women's Tag titles. They are slated to defend those belts a week later at Payback, but that's another story. With only the WWE Women's Tag Team belts to focus on, it may force Bayley and Banks to go even further with heel tactics just to keep the only titles they have left.
There are some teams still kicking around on the main roster (Riott Squad, IIconics) and a few in NXT (Robert Stone Brand). New teams may also be formed in the coming weeks and months. By at least maintaining their tag titles, it would still give Banks and Bayley a reason to brag.
It would also still allow them to travel across all three brands as dictated by the rules behind defending the WWE Women's Tag titles. Instead of two women holding all of the gold, it would give a separate spotlight to all three Championships.
#3 They can finally feud with each other
Ever since Sasha Banks returned to WWE after last year's SummerSlam, she immediately aligned herself with Bayley. It led to Bayley's heel turn and a refreshing change for the former Hugger. Throughout much of the new Role Model's reign, she has put Banks in matches against her potential opponents. She did it with both Lacey Evans and Nikki Cross.
Those seeds of dissension have been sown with each passing week and is evident by the photo above. Banks has not challenged her friend for the title individually, and it is one of the last title feuds left for Bayley during this title run.
The Boss has started to do the same thing to Bayley. Banks volunteered her friend to face Asuka just in order to earn the right face Banks at Slam. Bayley was clearly upset with the fact she had to wrestle Asuka. But as things have played out, the women still hold all of the gold for women in WWE between RAW and SmackDown.
If they both lose their singles titles this weekend, then they'll probably both be on edge. If they drop the WWE Women's Tag titles as well, it will likely set them on a collision course. That potential feud has been teased several times in WWE over the last year and it is one that the fans are waiting for. If they both leave SummerSlam without their singles belts, look for the Golden Role Models to potentially face off in the near future.
#2 They've been on RAW and SmackDown almost every week since May
This is more a function of how WWE does things as well as who is available to push due to COVID-19 restrictions. The two top female stars in WWE, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, are both out for different reasons. In their place, WWE has pushed Banks, Bayley and Asuka.
While the Empress of Tomorrow has not been on every brand in WWE, the Golden Role Models have. They haven't been on NXT that much but they do appear on RAW and SmackDown every week. That happened even before Banks won the RAW Women's title. While there are still plenty of talented women to push, (Baszler, Ruby Riott, Asuka, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, Naomi, Alexa Bliss), most of the spotlight has gone to the two Horsewomen that are available to WWE at the moment.
A big part of why some WWE fans tired of both John Cena and Roman Reigns was that not only did they prominently appear on programming all the time but they also always won. They were pushed to the moon at the expense of almost every star they feuded with and it let to resentment from some fans.
Without fans, we don't get to hear the actual crowd response to Bayley and Banks, but they are heels and would be booed anyway.
Too much of one or two stars can sour some fans, especially with plenty of other performers that could get air time. If Banks and Bayley both drop their belts, it will hopefully allow some other women to get air time.
#1 It's time for someone else to be SmackDown Women's Champ
We're all for long title reigns in WWE, but sometimes, it just seems like they've jumped the shark. The best time for Bayley to have lost the SmackDown Women's title was at WrestleMania 36. She had four opponents, including Banks, and it would have been a great title reign nonetheless.
Instead, Bayley has had a reign surpassing 300 days, which is crazy in today's WWE. Becky Lynch did have a year-long reign before relinquishing her title, but she was the hottest star in all of WWE. Bayley has done well reinventing herself but there have been times when it would have made sense for her to fall to Naomi or someone like Nikki Cross.
In one of the secondary women's storylines on Friday nights, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose have been embroiled in a blood feud. It will culminate in a Hair vs. Hair match at SummerSlam. While Deville is likely to lose that match, she has really shone brightly during her split from Rose. Her mic skills have been carrying her and she's already nailed the in-ring aspect of her game.
If Banks and Bayley both lose their titles, then someone like Deville could be elevated in WWE by at least challenging Asuka, should the Empress win both belts. They could also give WWE performers like Baszler or Ruby Riott a big push.
By having both women lose, it opens up new storylines and new angles for some stars that have been waiting. Banks and Bayley can still muddle in the title feuds until they've lost any rematches. They'd be able to focus on the tag titles, and then a feud against each other.
It's more than past time for some other women to get the spotlight that Banks and Bayley have had over the last year. A win over either of those two would also propel a blossoming star like Deville or Riott up the card.
