WWE Cash within the Bank 2020 took Bayley one step nearer to a dream match with Sasha Banks. (Credit score: … [+] Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Photographs)
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WWE Cash within the Bank 2020 continued Bayley’s prolonged reign as SmackDown Ladies’s Champion when she defeated Tamina by way of an help from Sasha Banks and took yet another step towards a extremely anticipated dream match within the course of.
Since successful the title ultimately 12 months’s Cash within the Bank pay-per-view, Bayley has held the belt for all however 5 days, however her reign is itself hasn’t been notably memorable or spectacular. There have been no unforgettable feuds or marquee matches, and the one actual pleasure that her reign has created is the expectation that it’ll in the end result in a match along with her longtime buddy Banks, with the stage lengthy being set for “The Boss” and Bayley to go their separate methods.
The Bayley/Tamina rivalry, in any case, is clearly nothing greater than a placeholder feud. Tamina has been used virtually solely as a decrease card employee for many of her profession, and a heel/heel feud (is Tamina really a babyface?) with Bayley hasn’t been very intriguing, which is one in all a mess of explanation why SmackDown viewership has plummeted a lot in current weeks. The sunshine on the finish of the tunnel, nonetheless, is Bayley vs. Banks, a rivalry that’s years within the making however one which WWE has but to go all in on.
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WWE had initially deliberate on doing Bayley vs. Banks at WrestleMania 36, however these plans modified when WWE thought it was “too soon” to do the match with out the right construct it could get due to all of the adjustments introduced upon by the COVID-19 pandemic. In hindsight, that was a clever inventive transfer as a result of Banks vs. Bayley is the kind of private rivalry that may generate one of the best response and most curiosity with followers in attendance. General curiosity in WWE has dropped significantly since WrestleMania 36, however with SummerSlam but to be formally cancelled, modified or postponed, it appears to be like like WWE continues to be constructing towards that present with the expectation that it is going to be a memorable pay-per-view with a WrestleMania-caliber card.
Although that present possible gained’t happen in Banks’ hometown of Boston in entrance of a packed home of followers as one of the best case state of affairs suggests it needs to be, Banks vs. Bayley is the kind of match that may make the cardboard for that occasion—wherever it takes locations—as huge correctly. In case you have a look at the present state of SmackDown’s girls’s division, a few of its largest stars—like Alexa Bliss—are extra nervous in regards to the tag crew titles whereas Naomi isn’t being prioritized and Lacey Evans isn’t ready wherein she’s over sufficient to warrant a large leap up the cardboard.
There have been some wide-ranging fan complaints about the way in which WWE focuses so closely on the 4 Horsewomen quarter of Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Aptitude and Becky Lynch, however given the way in which SmackDown’s girls’s division has been constructed, there’s a cause why Bayley vs. Banks seems to be the plain route: It’s the largest and most anticipated feud on your complete model in the meanwhile.
Whereas Bayley’s profitable title protection over Tamina will proceed what has been an extended however lackluster title reign, that additionally means we’re one step nearer to a Bayley vs. Banks feud that could possibly be fairly the deal with for followers at a time when there isn’t a lot to get enthusiastic about.
