Over the course of her career, Sasha Banks has been involved in some of the most important and most highly rated women’s matches in WWE history.
Since debuting in 2012, Banks was in the first women’s match to headline an NXT TakeOver, the first ever women’s Hell In A Cell Match and the first women’s match to headline a WWE pay-per-view. Alongside Bayley, The Boss was also one half of the first ever WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Even in 2021, Banks along with Bianca Belair become the first two black women to have a singles match at WrestleMania, with the match also being the first women’s singles match to headline the event.
If there has been a ‘first’ or a huge moment in recent women’s WWE history, Sasha Banks has been there.
After a strong run in NXT, Banks cemented her place at women’s wrestling’s top table with her universally revered match with Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in 2015.
The match is regarded by many as the best women’s match ever, something Banks has revealed that she agrees with.
Appearing on the Just Women’s Sports podcast, Banks said that the classic bout changed the game, calling it “the greatest women’s match of all time.”
“It’s the most talked about match, really in the history of women’s wrestling and I’m so thankful for that match because it really changed the game of everything in the business for women. I remember that match clearly because it was two months before I got called up to the main roster and I finally made it to Raw, which was my dream since I was a 10-year-old kid, and I was NXT Women’s Champion. We’re at TakeOver: Brooklyn, the first time out of Florida and NXT is in front of a large-scale audience. We were equal to the WWE brand because of Sasha Banks, Bayley, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor. I wanted to leave a lasting impression of what I wanted my name and legacy to be in NXT before I got called up and dropped the title. I wanted to show them; first of all, we should have been the main event. Second of all, I wanted to make sure they remembered this match for the rest of their lives. I wanted the match to be the greatest women’s match of all time and it happened to be the greatest women’s match of all time,”
The two rivals followed the clash with the first ever women’s Iron Man Match in WWE history at NXT TakeOver: Respect.
Fast forward to April 2021 and Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair delivered another high quality match to main event night one of WrestleMania 37. On the night, the two women made history, something not lost on Belair. Speaking in a recent interview the current SmackDown Women’s Champion said that their match was about much more than just titles. Adding that although she won the title, no one truly lost.
H/t to Fightful for the transcription.