WWE’s “women’s revolution” continues to go from strength to strength, with stars such as NXT’s “Four Horsewomen” – Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Bayley, and Becky Lynch – giving fans a whole new appreciation for women’s wrestling.
This weekend sees the release of an all-new documentary, Smashing Glass Ceilings: The Women of WWE, chronicling Charlotte and Sasha Banks’ journey into the first ever women’s Hell in a Cell match.
To celebrate, we look back of 11 of the very best women’s matches to watch on the WWE Network.
Trish Stratus v Victoria
Women’s Championship Hardcore Match
Survivor Series – November 17, 2002
Fourteen years before Sasha and Charlotte made history with their intense Hell in a Cell match, Trish and Victoria proved women can be seriously hardcore. They’d been feuding since the summer, with the jealous Victoria claiming that blonde bombshell Trish had stolen her spot in WWE years earlier – then clobbering Trish with a chair to the face. The match was an intense, weapons-filled brawl that left winner Victoria with a bloodied nose.
Charlotte vs Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch
Women’s Championship Triple-Threat Match
WrestleMania 32 – April 3, 2016
This deserves a spot on the list for its historical importance as much as the in-ring work. This was the night that WWE scrapped the Divas title and introduced the current Women’s Championship – a significant moment of recognition for WWE’s female wrestlers. It’s not the best match from them (or other combinations of the Four Horsewomen), but was still the match of night at WrestleMania, outshining every male performer on the card that night. Charlotte got the win with a little help for her old man, Ric Flair.
Alundra Blayze vs Bull Nakano
Women’s Championship Match
SummerSlam – August 29, 1994
Alundra Blayze is best remembered as the woman who jumped ship to WCW and dropped the WWE Women’s Championship into the bin – an infamous moment in the WWE v WCW rating war. Before that she’d been the figurehead of WWE’s revived women’s division, which peaked with this energetic title defence against Japanese iconic Bull Nakano. The best women’s match to take place in WWE until this point, it was also the second best match on the card – outshone only by a classic Bret Hart v Owen Hart cage match.
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Paige v Emma
NXT Women’s Championship Match
NXT ArRIVAL– February 27, 2014
Though the Four Horsewomen are credited with laying the foundations for the WWE women’s revolution, this is where it really began (technically, it began eight months earlier in their stunning first match to crown the first NXT Women’s Champion). Paige and Emma put together a layered, psychology-based clinic, repeating and building on spots from their previous match. Don’t expect to see winner Paige back in WWE again any time soon, but this is a good reason to get excited for Emma’s imminent return.
Charlotte vs Natalya
NXT Women’s Championship Match
NXT TakeOver – May 29, 2014
Natalya had flown the flag for quality women’s wrestling in WWE for years, though her talents were often overlooked. Given the opportunity here – and paired up against a worthy opponent in Charlotte – she helped build on what Paige and Emma had done to push the envelope even further. With Ric Flair and Bret Hart stood in their respective corners, the women put on a master class of emotionally-charged wrestling drama. It wasn’t Natalya’s night though – Charlotte hit Natural Selection to get the win and raise her first championship.
Trish Stratus v Mickie James
Women’s Championship Match
WrestleMania 22 – April 2, 2006
Trish Stratus was WWE’s most popular female performer until the arrival of stars such as Sasha Banks and Bayley, but fans booed Trish during this WrestleMania title match – a testament to the talent of Mickie James. A culmination of months’ worth of storylines – in which James had played a cute-but-unhinged stalker who became infatuated with Trish – it’s proof that long-term booking and emotional investment always pays off in the ring. Mickie scored an upset victory to end Trish’s 448-day title reign.
Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch
NXT Women’s Championship Match
TakeOver: Unstoppable – May 20, 2015
An often overlooked gem, Sasha’s first major title defence saw her facing her former Team B.A.E. partner. The match was a well-crafted piece of storytelling, with both women trying to lock in their respective submission holds – the Banks Statement and Dis-Arm-Her – with Sasha eventually getting the win. But this was as much Becky’s moment, proving she was just as strong a wrestler as the more celebrated members of the Four Horsewomen – something she continues to prove every week on SmackDown Live.
Sasha Banks v Charlotte
Raw Women’s Championship Iron Man Match
Roadblock: End of the Line – December 18, 2016
Sasha and Charlotte shared the most significant rivalry of 2016, peaking with this blinder at the last PPV of the year. It was a step up from the intense Hell in a Cell brawl, with WWE changing up traditional Iron Man psychology to make the match more unpredictable than fans expected (including Sasha tapping in last seconds to tie the score and push the match into overtime). Sasha’s bloodied mouth added extra drama to the finish, as she was forced to tap again to Charlotte’s Figure-8 – making it three PPV title losses to Charlotte in a row.
Bayley v Asuka
NXT Women’s Championship Match
NXT TakeOver: Dallas – April 1, 2016
With Bayley as the huggable hero of NXT’s women’s division, it was a genuine shock when Asuka choked her out in this hard-hitting bout – so sudden and realistic that fans in attendance were left questioning whether the finish was legit. Asuka lived up to her reputation with stiff chops and kicks, dominating Bayley and cementing herself as NXT’s true “Empress of Tomorrow”. Bayley deserves huge credit for putting her opponent over so strongly, helping build the undefeated streak that Asuka continues today.
Sasha Banks vs Bayley
NXT Women’s Championship Match
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn – August 22, 2015
It’s a tough call between this and their follow-up match – the blistering 30-minute Iron Man Match at TakeOver: Respect – but this one just about takes it. Not only a superior in terms of wrestling psychology and action, but the Barclays Center setting gives it a big fight feel – it’s the moment when WWE realised its women could deliver a headline main event (as they’d do in the Iron Man Match less than two months later). It also marked a passing of the torch, with Bayley taking the title from Sasha.
Charlotte v Sasha Banks v Becky Lynch v Bayley
NXT Women’s Championship Fatal 4-Way Match
NXT: TakeOver Rival – February 11, 2015
Multi-person matches rarely deliver the drama of a classic one-on-one but this is delivered sizzling action – packed with team ups, crafty betrayals, and heart-stopping near falls. It’s no wonder really as the NXT women’s division was the hottest thing in WWE at the time, and the Four Horsewomen were given the ball to run with. Sasha Banks scored the victory and her first championship gold with a crucifix pin on Charlotte.
Watch Smashing Glass Ceilings: The Women of WWE on All4 from Friday January 27
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