The year 2016 could be seen as such a random, crazy, questionable year, but for the world wrestling entertainment's women division, it was groundbreaking and historic. What more of a fitting way for the ladies to end this ground breaking year than by writing more history for this division.
Building on the success of NXT, WWE’s developmental flagship program, where they have had their female athletes compete in the company’s first women’s ironman match. The competitor who gets the most wins via pin fall or submission will finally be introduced to the main roster of WWE’s Monday night Raw.
The final chapter of the companies’ best and strongest rivalry will debut this match with Charlotte Flair going up against the champion Sasha Banks.
To end this rivalry, they have included a non rematch clause for this match, so the outcome of it will determine if the WWE will finally end Charlotte’s undefeated streak of 17-0 on pay per view matches and finally give Banks a title run that she has been long overdue for.
The ladies have held their own respectively at 3-2, with Banks losing the belt at pay per views, which Charlotte remains undefeated in. But on Raw, where the company has showcased the women by incorporating historic matches between two, Banks is 3-0 in those fights. So on Raw Banks wins, on pay per view Charlotte wins. Could that change this Sunday? And create an even stronger women’s division by developing another rivalry with the already crowd favorite Bayley
They’ve competed in the first ever women’s ‘Hell in a Cell’ match at the respective pay per view; they competed on Raw in a first ever falls count anywhere match that ended in the stands of Charlotte, North Carolina. Ric Flair came out congratulated Banks in the hometown of the Flairs after dedicating the fight to him. All this coming after a early promo done earlier this year where Charlotte kicked her father out of the castle in her kingdom in front of everybody.
Respect is given to everybody involved for establishing and breaking a different norm for this division. Creating an even more interesting aspect is seeing the women decide to put their bodies through the pain. This should be one epic fight if their previous ones have been any indication of the athletes' ability to top their previous performances. The very first bout they had on Raw, where Banks left with the title, was the longest females match on Raw ever. It displayed the show's commitment to get the women’s division over.
The story telling on this feud is somewhere else right now, clearly it is one of the few stories the WWE creative front has gone all in on. So for the final act of this rivalry in 2016, the ending could go either way, Charlotte retaining the belt and proving she is the top athlete in the women’s division, or will WWE be willing to pull the trigger and end Charlotte’s undefeated streak and finally enter the Sasha Banks era of champion in 2017?
