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The championship matches for WWE's women at WrestleMania 36 have mostly come together. First, Charlotte Flair won the Royal Rumble and accepted NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley's challenge for WrestleMania 36. The second piece to the WrestleMania puzzle was taken out of the box when Shayna Baszler debuted on RAW and attacked champion Becky Lynch. The piece is likely to be set into place next month, as Baszler is the likely winner of the #1 Contender's Elimination Chamber match. With two of three matches appearing to be on the plate, the focus now turns to WWE SmackDown Women's Champion, Bayley.
Over the last couple of years, the famed NXT Four Horsewomen have all reached different levels of success. While Flair and Lynch have been in the main event of WrestleMania, Bayley and Sasha Banks have yet to receive such a significant spotlight on The Grandest Stage of Them All. Our own Tom Colohue has speculated that Bayley versus Sasha is the plan for this year's WrestleMania. Sasha is definitely the biggest threat to Bayley at the moment now that Bayley has gotten past the recent challenges of Carmella and Naomi, the latter having just occurred at the Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia. With that being the case, it's time to finally pull the trigger on Sasha vs. Bayley.
These women have been part of some of the biggest moments of the Women's Revolution, including receiving the award for "Best Match of the Year" by WWE fans. While Carmella, Naomi and Lacey Evans have all improved as wrestlers, none of them are up to the standard of Sasha in the ring -- and more importantly, they don't possess the star power. Banks is a former NXT Women's Champion, a four-time Raw Women's Champion, and won the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Championship alongside Bayley. The story is one of the easiest to tell. Bayley said of the rivalry:
"Obviously, myself and Sasha would be an awesome WrestleMania match, and I would love to test myself against Sasha Banks now. We've had many many matches in the past but I feel like we're both at a different level right now so I'd love to pit against each other.”
It seemed like it destiny that, after spending most of 2018 in an on-again, off-again friendship, their most high-profile match yet was going to take place at WrestleMania. It wasn't the case, however, and after teasing the match for the following year, the women continued their friendship and wound up losing the Women's Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania in 2019. Following the loss, Sasha took a break from the ring.
After she returned and failed to win the Raw Women’s Championship from Becky Lynch, Banks was moved to SmackDown in the WWE Draft. There, she was reunited with Bayley and helped the former hugger transition into her current role as the brand's top heel. Telling the story of the jealous friend (Banks, in this case) while weaving in their suberb rivalry in NXT would make for one of the more promising matches for the big event in Tampa. Bayley versus Banks must finally happen at WrestleMania. It’s been nearly five years since their classic at Takeover: Brooklyn. The missed opportunity of two years ago, along with Bayley’s heel turn and new attitude, needs to finally receive the spotlight of WrestleMania to settle the score.
