This day in wrestling history came to us on October 30, 2016 and we got a double dose of historical moments when Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks met in a Hell in a Cell match.
This was the first time WWE held a women’s match in a Hell in a Cell, and it was also the first time women main evented a pay-per-view in the WWE.
It was a really cool moment as it helped to lead to the Evolution pay-per-view the next year.
Last minute herstory
What adds to this is how they found out the night before that they’d be main eventing the show, as Sasha Banks explained in an interview.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the transcript.
“I didn’t know we were main-eventing until the night before. I had an autograph signing in New York and me and Bayley luckily had a car service to Boston and I remember Charlotte calling me and she’s like “Don’t tell anyone, but, they said we’re the main event” and I was just like ‘What!? Are you kidding me? In Boston? My hometown and the first-ever woman to main-event a pay-per-view. That’s crazy. Oh my gosh.’ I was freaking out — just like, ‘Oh, man’ and all the pressure is on.
“You would think they would be like, ‘Hey, are you comfortable? Are you okay? Can you do a ladder match?’ No. ‘Hey, can you take a chair shot?’ ‘Uhh, sure. I’ll do it. How much money?’ Just kidding. You’re welcome, Vince.
“We don’t know a lot of stuff until we get there and a lot of times we don’t have any say but it’s just like, it’s cool. It’s what I grew up watching so…” – Sasha Banks, We Have Cool Friends interview, September 30, 2019.
Breaking through
This is a great moment as it shows how far back the two of them go as they were part of the Four Horsewomen in NXT.
Given the current climate and reported backstage theatrics going on, it’s often easy to forget they’re friends and have a few historical moments to their names.
This was a great match and really showed what the women’s division can do if they don’t have minutes cut from their matches or pushed off the card all together.
This day in wrestling history was a great stepping stone and women’s wrestling has continued to evolve since then.
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