[2015-10-07-WWE-NXT Takeover: Respect] Bayley vs Sasha Banks

[SmartMark15]

Performance of a lifetime from both ladies. Sasha in particular absolutely nails her performance as just a really despicable heel and is even able to work the notoriously smarky Full Sail crowd into genuine heel heat. Poking Bayley's eyes to get the first fall, trash talking Izzy and stealing her headband. You wanna talk genuine heel heat? A little girl CRIED. Meanwhile, Bayley puts in one of the best babyface comeback stretches, putting money in the bank with Sasha's hand and paying it off beautifully at the finish of the match. Prefer this to their first match and I find it strange that general consensus seems to disagree.

 

Probably the best women's match in WWE history.

 

*****

[Kronos]

When I was in college, Star Trek Voyager had just begun. My roommate and I chuckled for the first few eps because there was something about Kate Mulgrew that made her seem like she was always on the verge of tears. (She got over it.)

 

Bayley is like that for me. Something about her eyes makes her seem ready to break down, even when she's mad and focused. It makes it hard for me to take her seriously, unfortunately. Sasha, on the other hand, is one of the most entertaining workers on the entire roster. She proves it here with her Mastery of expressions and attitude, as Smark pointed out above.

 

Both gals bring some sloppiness here, Bayley especially as she looked on several occasions to have hurt Sasha.

 

I've seen other 4 Horsewomen matches that were more engaging for me, despite all the good this one brought. So I couldn't call this one the best WWE women's match. But it's fun, and it really shows Sasha's skills. And it's always great to see talented gals get 30 min to show what they can do.

[Kadaveri]

The sequel to the Brooklyn match and not quite as good in my opinion (I know some people strongly disagree!) due to a bit of sloppiness early on, but once that's over and done with this turns into yet another barnburner.

The heel heat segment is one of the best I've seen in WWE in years... Heels just don't do this kind of thing anymore, it seems like the WWE style is for heels to just be boring with chinlocks and stuff because it theoretically gets meta heat. Sasha doesn't do any of that. She puts Bayley in a Boston Crab and stamps on the back her head! Why does anyone else do that? And then she terrorises a young girl in the crowd in a Bayley shirt, snatches her hairband and gets in the ring to do a piss-taking impression of a crying child. All meanwhile a crowd who cheered her entrance are appalled and booing her as loud as they can. Special stuff.

An underrated aspect of this match is the numerous callbacks to the Brooklyn match. Sasha Banks don't fall for the same shit twice. So in Brooklyn there's a spot where Sasha is trash talking Bayley in the corner only to get kicked in the face. Here she trash talks her in the corner again, Bayley attempts to kick her but Sasha catches her boot and turns it into a backbreaker with a sinister smile on top. At Brooklyn Bayley pulls Sasha straight of the ropes into a Bayley to Belly, at Respect she tries the same thing but Sasha blasts her in the face with a forearm this time. Bayley goes for the reverse hurricanrana like in Brooklyn, but here Sasha flips through it landing on her feet (I don't care that she slips). At Brooklyn Bayley successfully reverses the Bank Statement into one of her own, she tries it again here but Sasha sees it coming and forces her right back into it.

The finish is fantastic. Bayley counters another Bank Statement attempt by putting Sasha into the most brutal looking submission hold ever seen in NXT... I don't even know what it is, some kind of inverted cattle mutilation + bending fingers back + kicking in the head. Something poetic about the nicest person on the show doing that after all these years of Sasha's terrible behaviour. It's like the story was Bayley always had the technical wrestling ability to really hurt Sasha if she wanted to, but she didn't do it until convinced that was the only way to win the feud. Sasha screams in pain/fear like we've never heard her before in this 'Boss' persona and taps out.

[Cowboy Hats 4.0]

 

[cactus]

They work with the time limit well. For example, they start this one by trying to get a flash pinfall and to gain that very important first fall. Sasha goes from aggressively competitive to full-on bitch mode in one motion as she takes advantage of Bayley's kindness by pulling her to the ground after Bayley offers her a hug after a stalemate. I loved Sasha's heel performance in their Takeover: Brooklyn match, but she was next-level evil here. Her teasing of the Bayley superfan was awesome, only damped by some of the smarky crowd's insistence on still cheering Banks despite how much of a heel she was. This wasn't perfect mind, as there was some sloppiness, such as Bayley having to move Bank's unconscious body to ropes so she can get a rope break. Things pick up again during the incredible final three minutes as Bayley has to hang on as Banks nearly breaks her in a nasty submission. Forget just calling this the greatest women's match to take place in a WWE ring, I'd also call this the greatest Iron Man match in history too. ★★★★¾

[Superstar Sleeze]

NXT Women’s Champion Bayley vs Sasha Banks - NXT 10/7/15 Ironman Match

Rainy day in Quebec got an hour on a treadmill before baby wakes up let’s knock out a long match. My recollection is that the Brooklyn match smokes this match. Let’s see.

First 15 mins: The match is already anointed before it began. “Main event” “Women’s Wrestling”, “You Deserve It” and “This is awesome” chants all before they touched. It was a watershed moment that was building for a year plus. A Jackie Robinson moment in 21st Century. For that reason this match should always be Canon. 
 

As for the work, it is solid but nothing too special. Sasha Banks carries the first 15 minutes with swagger and makes sure this never falls below great and entertaining. Bayley was the right character for the moment but her offense leaves a lot to be desired. They trade Eddie/Malenko style near falls because the moment calls for it. Sasha coming up with a dropkick out of it was interesting in a take what the match gives you moment. But they were determined to for Bayley to have her shine. Japanese Armdrags barely look good when done by others here it was just bad arm work. They trade finisher teases smart. Sasha feeling the moment  goes for the Hug PSYCHE Hair Pull! Sasha is just so much more interesting. Bayley’s offense again falls flat for me. The eye poke roll up was a fun first fall and glad they weren’t going to go without any falls for 30mins. The yank by Bayley into Bayley 2 Belly was the best thing Bayley did so far. 1-1.

The match picks up when Bayley with incredible core strength takes a wicked stairs bump. Sasha plays it old school throwing Bayley to the floor repeatedly and then into the titan tron. She messes on the Bayley Superfan and takes her bow. Sasha picks up the Countout as the Bayley Superfan cries in an iconic moment. Prophecy fulfilled the match is officially a classic. 
 

Second 15 mins: Sasha mocking and laying the badmouth on Bayley was great as was the Kawada style Boston Crab complete with head stomping action. Banks loses controls of Bayley and goes to re-apply But Bayley negotiates a roll up for the fall. Some bad Bayley offense follows. They get obsessed with the Tree of Woe position, but with 8 minutes left the match picks up. Call back to Brooklyn with Bayley smashing Banks’ hand into the Ring steps in a “taste of your own medicine moment”. Hand psychology gives something for Bayley to latch onto and her offense looks a lot better. We get the iconic Banks Dive into the Bayley 2 Belly. The Super Bayley 2 Belly follows but Bayley loses control of Sasha and Banks gets her feet on the ropes. They go for the Super Dragonrana another Brooklyn callback but Sasha lands on her feet. Bayley 2 Belly! Nothing says credible wrestling like a finisher steal. Sasha working in and out of the Bank Statement was great. Bayley gets a wicked Arm submission kinda looks like what Penta does crossed with the Rings of Saturn. Coupled with the hand work and the clock running down and the submission at the bell makes for an ELECTRIC FINISH!

WWE Promotional Machine was fully behind this match. They bring out the whole roster and have the fellow Four Horsewomen front and center for the standing O. Thank You Sasha! The crowd gets the right. As HHH brings Bayley literal flowers. It is nice to remember what a functional WWE Promotional Machine looked like and how it can really take something special to the next level. 
 

They would have had to lay an absolute egg not to have a Canonical match. The match is undisputably great but Brooklyn does indeed smoke this match. This match benefited from the Moment and the Promotional Machine. Sasha delivered a fantastic performance but the match layout never gave her enough room to really take it to the next level. Bayley came alive in the last 8 minutes and delivered when it counts. The Sasha/Bayley Superfan interaction was gold! The moment was massive and they met the moment well enough. To quote Voltaire “The Search for Perfection is the Enemy of Good” and this was good enough. ****