This past week WWE presented NXT Takeover: Respect which featured a main event consisting of Sasha Banks and Bayley for the NXT Women’s Championship in a 30 Minute Ironman Match.
I would like to congratulate everyone who was involved in this event, but especially I would like to congratulate Sasha Banks and Bayley for putting on a wrestling clinic that will live in this man’s memory for quite some time to come.
First off, I was concerned whether I would be as invested in this rematch as it was pretty obvious that Bayley would retain and this would be Sasha’s last match in NXT. That being said the performance from both of them instantly removed my concerns as I become completely engrossed in the contest.
I must give a special shout out to Sasha Banks as she was able to manipulate the fans feelings (including mine) so many times in this match that it wasn’t even funny. Sasha went into the match with the hard task of making people believe she was dislikeable due to the four horsewomen moment in Brooklyn. She managed to do this with two moments. One was to shake hands and hug Bayley and then cheap shot her. The other, was to steal the headband off Izzy (Bayley’s #1 fan) and taunt her whilst Bayley was being counted out. Sasha was then able to come full circle as a fan favourite by the end of the match when even William Regal was drawn to tears (I had something in my eye as well Mr. Regal).
This was a match that lived up to its previous encounter in Brooklyn and also exceeded the high standard set by Sasha and Becky a few months prior. These two women deserved to main event and they knocked it out of the ballpark. Thank you.
