Fantasy Booking: Sasha Banks vs. Summer Rae in 2017

Around this time in 2016, Sasha Banks made her return after a month’s absence, officially becoming a face as she took out Charlotte after her match at the Royal Rumble. Since then, Sasha has gone on to get a Wrestlemania title match, hold the Raw Women’s Championship three times, main event Raw twice and main event a PPV in a Hell in a Cell match. But some still consider this a failure because of a week to week booking and each of her title reigns being very short. Many are calling for a heel turn to potentially revitalize her character.

Meanwhile, Summer Rae and Sasha Banks go way back. Summer was one of the pioneers of NXT women’s wrestling and was actually the very first female call-up from NXT in WWE history. The First Lady of NXT would actually play a big role in Sasha’s early on screen character. After being in limbo for months, Summer cut a promo on Sasha backstage that was the spark that turned Sasha heel and into ‘The Boss’ we know today. Summer would also go on to recruit Charlotte and lead the BFFs into battle, helping both Sasha and Charlotte become acquainted to the main playing field of NXT women. Despite WWE pretending the BFFs were two people, Summer Rae played a pretty sizable part in the early careers of both women. Sadly, Summer hasn’t been able to see the success that her fellow BFFs have and is also currently sidelined with injuries. However, I believe that Sasha Banks and Summer Rae crossing paths could be ideal for both their careers right now and here’s why…

The Royal Rumble is this Sunday and I believe the show should start off with Nia Jax giving Sasha Banks a pretty good beating and defeating her. See, if we’re turning Sasha heel, there isn’t really a need to have her win or really even look strong here. Basically everything is completely wiped off the board once a turn happens and people won’t remember that she lost on the pre-show of the Rumble in a month anyway, however that win would do more for Jax. Later in the evening, Bayley goes on to defeat Charlotte for the Raw Women’s Championship. Sasha, naturally, comes out and celebrates with her best friend, proud that Bayley was able to end Charlotte’s PPV streak.

Due to time constraints of the Royal Rumble PPV, this will probably have to happen on Raw, but have Sasha Banks sitting down in front of a mirror backstage, eerily similar to the one she was in front of in the NXT ‘Boss’ promo. Have Summer Rae make her return and be disgusted with what Sasha Banks has become. Tell her that it’s embarrassing to see the so called ‘Boss’ out there celebrating her friend’s achievements, the exact same things that Sasha couldn’t do. Summer would go on to explain that Sasha isn’t the same Sasha from NXT or even her early days on the main roster, but rather a joke now. She’s not The Boss anymore, she’s merely an employee. She asks if Sasha remembers when she was main eventing PPVs and not getting embedded into the canvas on the kickoff show. Summer reminds Sasha of the boost her career had the last time they worked together and walks off.

Over the next couple of weeks, Sasha Banks and Bayley seem as close as ever, but while Bayley is out there winning her matches, Sasha is coming up short once again. Each time Sasha loses, Summer Rae is at the top of the stage, shaking her head in embarrassment. At Fastlane, Bayley manages to just barely defeat Charlotte in their rematch for the title as Sasha comes out once again to celebrate. Disgusted by Sasha’s actions, Summer Rae follows her out and yells at Sasha, telling her she’ll never see that title again if she continues to be Bayley’s lapdog. Sasha slaps Summer and Bayley sets her up for the Bayley to Belly. However, Sasha grabs Bayley by the hair, pulls her back and nails her with the Bank Statement. Summer’s anger turns to joy as Sasha eventually breaks the hold and Summer raises her hand in victory.

At Wrestlemania we see Sasha, with Summer in her corner, take on Bayley for the Raw Women’s Championship. In a hard fought match, Sasha gets the victory and wins the title. However things are different now. Instead of crying or being overcome with emotion, Sasha picks Bayley back up and gives her the Bank Statement again. On the outside, Summer is extremely pleased with the monster she’s created.

Over the next few months, Sasha Banks becomes less and less like her old self and more and more evil. She constantly clings to and protects her title, but she’s more into hurting and humiliating her opponents than having the love of competition. During this time, Summer begins to realize that Sasha may be beyond her power at this point. Somewhere around June or July there would be a clear change in the balance of power, with Sasha beginning to boss around Summer and threatening her more often. Hopefully, by this point, Summer is cleared in the ring and on a bit of a roll herself.

Summer goes on to win a battle royal for a shot at the Women’s Championship the next week on Raw. After being overcome with joy, she remembers that it’s against Sasha. Backstage, Sasha tells Summer that they’re going to go out there and that Summer will lay down in the ring and take the easy pin. Summer is hesitant but agrees. As the match begins, Summer lies down and Sasha pins her, only for Summer to kick out at two. The match goes on for another ten minutes before Summer is ready to hit a spinning heel kick, but hesitates, allowing Sasha to take advantage and get the win. Over the next couple weeks, Sasha continues treating Summer like crap. As Sasha is beating down Liv Morgan in the ring after a match, Summer gets in the ring and stands in front of Sasha, protecting Liv. Sasha shoves Summer into the ropes and Summer rebounds off them with a spinning heel kick. Summer challenges Sasha to a rematch at Summerslam, as Sasha rolls out of the ring, shocked.

Then from there, you can go either way. Sasha retains in a hard fought match and you’ve done the job as establishing Sasha as unstoppable and Summer as a credible contender. If Summer wins, you’ve still established a new Sasha character that can easily either jump to Smackdown or win the title back and you’ve completely ‘made’ Summer. I think this would be cool even without the history between the two, but given the rich history they actually have together, it could make the whole thing even more interesting. They’ve already proven they can have good matches together, getting good time twice in 2016 and knocking it out of the park both times. And that was with no storyline. They’re also two of the strongest on the mic and these promos practically write themselves. I believe this is the kind of thing that could work. I think people enjoy storylines that carry on over time and have clear character change. Sasha Banks sells her soul to the devil, but becomes the devil herself.