Did I mention that the match at Summerslam once again featured a scary spot where Sasha Banks could have been seriously injured? This has just become a theme. From the summer of 2015 to the summer of 2016, it seems almost every big match for Sasha Banks involves some scary spot. I am not even counting general sloppiness or botches in unimportant matches or house show matches. Just looking at big matches and scary spots where she could have been seriously injured, too many times has Sasha Banks been involved in these kind of situations. The blame might not always go on her, but there is a real issue here.
These women from NXT need to calm down. The top-tier female talent (Paige, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch) have debuted on the main roster with so much hype. None of them have lived up to that hype. Time will tell what happens with Bayley. It might sound rude of me to say this, but I am being honest. Whether you want to blame how the WWE has utilized them, the people they are working with, or whatever, the matches have not been as consistently great as they should be, these women are killing themselves, and their potential is not being developed beyond just being wrestlers. This injury issue is just the biggest deal of them all. Because there is all this hype around women's wrestling and these women are getting so much praise, they might sometimes feel they need to do these crazy spots to keep fans interested. When it works, you look great. When it doesn't work, you risk breaking your neck. There are just several reasons why they need to settle down.
First, the injury issue hurts the depth of the division. I was saying before that the Raw women's division was in a bit of an emergency situation. If Sasha Banks went down, what would the WWE do? Well, Sasha Banks went down. She's taking time off. Luckily, Bayley was ready to debut. Nevertheless, what does the WWE do if Bayley gets injured? Have Charlotte feud with Dana Brooke? Yeah, there might be a great story there, but the match they have will likely not be too spectacular. And even without Bayley getting injured, the depth isn't there to create fresh matches with her for long. Sasha Banks will likely be back in a month, but that's still a month the WWE has to manage with a roster with poor depth.
Second, the injury issue hurts them. Obviously! These women need to care about their own health. Sasha Banks is only 24. She has already had to take time off a few times due to injury issues since debuting on the main roster last year. At the rate she is going, she won't be wrestling anymore when she turns 30. She might even be paralyzed by then, if she is not careful. Who wants that? I don't want to see anyone get that kind of serious injury.
Third, these scary spots and injuries just hurt the WWE's image. This is an era where the WWE cares very much how the media portrays them. If there is anything that could derail, and arguably should derail, the women's revolution, it isn't simply declining ratings or failure to get some of these women more over. It is the injury issue. How can the WWE stand by and let these women do all these cringe-worthy spots? How can they allow them to pretty much injure themselves and profit off of it? I can definitely imagine some people calling them out on this. If the WWE holds back some of the men from doing certain moves, why shouldn't they hold the women back if it looks like an issue is coming up? I sometimes come across videos of fans doing wrestling moves on Youtube. I even see little girls imitating women's moves. There is all this hype over Sasha Banks. If little girls try to imitate what she does, they will get seriously hurt. And negative press will come to the WWE's doorstep.
I could say another reason these women should calm down is to protect their own overness. If they botch too much, that could hurt their overness. Fans would become disillusioned with them. Sadly, I don't think that is a big issue. Yes, Sasha Banks has people pointing out that she botches more than someone hyped as highly as she is should and people anticipating that she's going to land on her head during a big matches, but for the most part, she isn't going to lose her fans. If anything, these risky spots reinforce her support with these fans. The fact that these women have proven themselves in NXT seems to give them a free pass when it comes to making mistakes. I am not going to jump down anyone's throat for making a mistake here and there, but these are dangerous mistakes that are becoming a theme when it comes to Sasha Banks.
You might notice I used the word "Sadly" back there. Why do I say it is sad that the risky botching issue might not hurt the women's popularity too much? Because it feels like they are condoning it. In some cases, it feels like these might be bloodthirsty fans egging these women on. I remember that match on Raw where Sasha won the title. The crowd wasn't really that respectful towards the action from start to finish. But they did come alive when the women did their high-risk spots, particularly Charlotte's moonsault out of the ring and Sasha Banks nearly injuring herself with the dive out of the ring. These fans do realize it comes with a price, right? Maybe they play too many video games. I haven't played a wrestling game in a while, but I don't think there is a feature where you can lose the ability to play with a certain character ever again because he becomes too injured or cannot use them for a couple months because they need to take time off to nurse a serious injury. That's not a game. That's life. If some fans cannot respect what these women are doing without them potentially hurting themselves, then screw those fans.
I have seen one fan say that the reason these NXT women are not wrestling big matches as smoothly on the main roster as they did in NXT is because they had more time to plan in NXT. I could almost buy that, but there is one major problem. Why is it that the majority of top NXT guys that come to the main roster can wrestle smoothly? A guy like Kevin Owens can wrestle just as well with guys he worked with in NXT as he can guys he never worked with down there, like John Cena. A guy like AJ Styles never went through NXT at all and has put on some pretty good matches with a variety of men in the WWE this year. Botches will happen, but you don't have the same issue you have with the women. There were also some big botches from the women down in NXT, although it is really starting to stand out now that they come to the main roster.
There is more I feel like saying, but I'll just end it here. These women from NXT debut with so much hype and are rated so highly. There are these higher expectations for them, and if that is the way it going to be, there is only so much sloppiness you should allow them to get away with. I can't say what your limit should be, but I've seen just about enough. Sasha Banks loses her title a few weeks after winning it to take time off to heal up, and then has another spot in that very match where she could have been seriously injured. That's unbelievable. I would rather watch Eva Marie botch around the ring for 60 minutes than watch a match between Charlotte and Sasha Banks that only lasts 5 minutes because Sasha broke her neck and the ref ended the match.
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