2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Sasha, Dead?

4. Sasha Banks vs. Asuka WWE Raw 1/29

ER: Sasha Banks has this weird - and you would think untenable - habit of turning an okay match into a really fun match by merely almost dying. This started innocently enough, some nice armdrags, Asuka with her great hip attack, Asuka laying in some kicks, Banks hitting her nice knees in the corner, a Banks Statement tease, all things that were expected. But then Banks goes for a dive, gets kicked in the face for her troubles and crashes straight damn down onto her head. Banks always finds new ways to fall on her head and it should not be sustainable, but here we are. From here out everything seems stiffer. Banks almost dies, so Asuka rewards her with an Aja Kong tribute back in the ring, dropping Banks face first into a brutal knee lift, peppering her with a couple spinning backfists, and finishing it off with a high kick. Sasha is a loon and leans way into a missile dropkick, and Asuka takes a big bump to the floor herself off a missed hip attack, and Sasha hits a couple wild flying knee attacks. I actually bought the Banks Statement false finish as it's finished many before Asuka, and it felt plausible that Asuka could win the Rumble but get handed her first loss the next night. That might have been a neat way to set Sasha up as a challenger, but alas, Asuka reverses and finishes. One day Sasha will work a good match without threat of death, but thankfully for us she has dozens of lives.

PAS: Yoyza, this went from a solid TV match, to a hellfire and murder classic. The match was chugging along fine during the first pre-commercial section, Asuka has really great body control, and it melds nicely with Banks semi-out of control offense. That missed dive was completely nuts, bump of the year territory, and I loved Asuka pushing down the pedal and trying to finish her with that knee/backfist/high kick combo. Really nasty stuff and way stiffer then the stuff she was throwing earlier in the match. It takes something big to have a plausible comeback after such a bump, but Asuka crazily flying back first out of the ring on her hip did it for me. Finish run was really exciting, and that final Asuka lock looked like it would rip all the muscles in Banks body.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST