2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Sasha vs. Charlotte Street Fight

53. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte WWE Raw 11/28

PAS: You have to give a lot of credit to both of these women. Multiple times this year they have been placed in high profile, unprecedented spots and they have delivered every time. This was my favorite of their main roster matches. It had a real sloppy violent feel to it, which is the kind of wrestling I love, it actually weirdly felt a lot like the Jordynne Grace vs. Heidi Lovelace IWA-MS streetfight we loved so much from 2014 (review here). Same kind of crowbarring, same kind of recklessness. I loved that insane bump Sasha took off the ring apron, totally looked like it knocked her cold. Charlotte's moonsault was totally nuts, and the finish was awesome, looked totally painful and really took advantage of Charlotte's flexibility. I liked this a lot better than the Hell in the Cell, had all of the things I liked from that match, with less of the things I didn't.

ER: Sasha Banks has been one of my very favorite performers over the past year, while I think Charlotte keeps looking worse and worse in ring. I thought we had already added this match to our 2016 MOTY List, and when I saw I never wrote my part of the review (Phil wrote his share several years ago) I figured I'd fix that. The only thing I really remember about the match is the finish, with Sasha locking the Banks Statement on in the crowd, bending Charlotte back over a handrail. These two had a crazy 2016 against each other, and this match might have had their craziest material. This was falls county anywhere and was worked really stiff, and several of their big spots were dangerously ambitious. Sasha hits a really great dive early, following it through to the floor and landing like a super heavy crossbody. They both take hard suplexes and spills on the floor, Sasha breaking out meteoras from high landings, and she takes a really crazy bump off the apron. Sasha was always great for a reckless death bump in a big match. Charlotte has always had really ugly form on chops - that hasn't changed - but ugly or not, her chops on the apron landed with a thud. She was chopping Sasha right in the boobs and Sasha paid her back with an elbow. It all builds to a Charlotte moonsault off the announce table up on the entrance stage, and a moonsault from that high up, with the only thing standing between you and concrete being a 110 lb. woman, is a psychotic spot for a WWF main eventer. The whole match had a real strong fight feel to it, and the crowd picked up early on that they were killing each other out there, and that really added to things. We're a little over 4 years later and I think Sasha will be the biggest star in wrestling if her current trajectory keeps up. Meanwhile, Charlotte's in ring stock has fallen every year since. We'll always have 2016. 

2016 MOTY MASTER LIST