In major WWE news, a women’s championship has changed hands for the second straight night as Bayley has captured the WWE Raw Women’s Championship on Monday Night Raw. The former NXT Champion battled against multiple time champion Charlotte Flair in the main event of Monday’s Raw episode in a match involving plenty of big spots. Bayley was able to emerge victorious due to interference from Dana Brooke, and a bit of an assist towards the end from her friend Sasha Banks. Could this all lead to a major heel turn for Sasha Banks and possibly a big match at WrestleMania 33?
For weeks now, there have been WWE rumors of Sasha Banks turning heel. Sasha was featured in several parts of Monday night’s show which seem to tease that potential bad side being unleashed soon. However, she seemed to keep that at bay, instead, giving assistance to her good friend Bayley in the ring to help her achieve a childhood dream. Still, there appears to be a set up in the works for fans, but will it come in the next few weeks on Raw, or at the upcoming Fastlane pay-per-view?
According to ProWrestling.net, the latest episode of Raw not only featured Kevin Owens turning against his “best friend” Chris Jericho, it also closed with an exciting women’s championship win aided by a best friend. The women’s division was once again given the main event spot, continuing a trend that was started by Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks several months ago. Bayley received yet another try at Queen Charlotte’s championship and this time she brought her “A-game” to the match against the reigning champ.
Both Bayley and Charlotte had momentum at separate times during the match with each competitor landing impressive moves. They included Charlotte’s moonsault flip onto Bayley from the crowd barricade outside the ring and Bayley’s Super Hurracanrana off the corner of the ring with the champ. Towards the end of the match, the decision seemed to teeter back and forth between which superstar might get the win. Bayley managed to lock a leg submission lock on Charlotte, but this was moments after Dana Brooke had appeared at ringside. Dana managed to rake Bayley’s eye with her hand, causing the challenger to get disoriented.
However, Bayley had a friend arrive at ringside as Sasha Banks came to save the day. She took out Dana with her crutch and then with the ref unable to see her, she jabbed Charlotte in the ring. At the time, Charlotte had a Figure Eight submission locked on Bayley but had to release it. Bayley now had full control and hit her trademark “Bayley to Belly” suplex for the win. With that, she has now captured the WWE Raw Women’s Championship for her first-ever reign.
As Bayley celebrated with fans, Sasha applauded her win from a distance and seemed supportive of her friend. However, the seeds seem to also have been planted for Sasha’s heel turn. Over the past several weeks, Sasha has been hurt and unable to compete at the level she used to. She failed in several attempts to defeat Nia Jax and watched as Bayley was getting the championship matches that Sasha used to receive. Charlotte even taunted Sasha a bit about this on a Raw episode not long ago, and then again on tonight’s show. Sasha seemed to get involved because of Charlotte taunting her prior to the match on Raw, but she may have had other motives for the interference.
With Sasha’s interference to basically help Bayley win, Sasha can now claim that her underdog friend was unable to capture the title on her own. Most likely, Sasha will wait for a moment to attack her friend and call her too weak to win against Charlotte without help. This seems to be the necessary opening for a heel turn by Sasha, which could set up a match at WrestleMania 33. WWE could also play up the history between these two friends, who had their share of battles back in their NXT days.
The main issue that this will create is that Raw will have women’s “heels” outnumbering “faces.” As it stands, Bayley and Sasha are really the two main face wrestlers on the roster. Alicia Fox has been off doing her own thing with the Cruiserweight Division. Nia Jax, Charlotte Flair, and Dana Brooke are the Raw women’s heels, so a turn by Sasha adds yet another to their group. It would seem someone else would need to turn face to be on Bayley’s side. Possibly another NXT women’s wrestler might be added to the roster in the near future for this, or one of the heels turns face, such as Dana Brooke.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Charlotte remains undefeated at pay-per-view events. So if an expected rematch is booked for the upcoming WWE Fastlane PPV like WrestleZone reported not long ago, watch out for Sasha to get involved once again. She may even cost Bayley the title, giving her a short reign of under a month.
Nonetheless, the heel turn seems inevitable and based on the previous matches that Bayley and Sasha put on while on the NXT roster, it could set up a compelling match for WrestleMania 33. There have even been rumors of a Fatal Fourway involving Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley and Nia Jax for the championship, so watch out for that match to happen as well.
WWE fans, how long do you think that Bayley will hold onto the WWE Raw Women’s Championship? Will Sasha cost her the title on Raw or at Fastlane somehow? Will the two friends end up fighting over the title somehow at WrestleMania 33?
