Sasha Banks and Bayley's reign doesn't hinder progress in WWE
At this time last year, Bayley was attempting to salvage the "Hugger" character and her first reign as the WWE SmackDown Women's Champion. Meanwhile, fans breathed a sigh of relief as Sasha Banks returned from her four-month hiatus on the night after SummerSlam 2019. To say a lot has changed since then would be an understatement.
Today, Sasha Banks and Bayley sit atop of the women's division, holding all three major titles. Their current success is a far cry from their underwhelming reign as the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Champions. Not to mention, some fans branded them sore losers when a rumor surfaced that they threw a tantrum on the locker room floor at WrestleMania 35.
With that in mind, there's something so poetic about the way that they've embraced these petulant personas during their ascent to the top of the company. "The Golden Role Models" have emerged as a dominant force in the months following WrestleMania 36. Bayley has become a surprisingly gifted heel and her reluctant friendship with Banks has been the most entertaining storyline WWE has produced all year.
Sasha Banks and Bayley aren't making any new friends
The longtime friends/rivals are enjoying the best run of their respective careers. WWE clearly trusts them more than they did when they initially introduced the women's tag titles. So much so, they've taken possession of all the gold and planted their flag on both RAW and SmackDown.
However, their current position has gained the ire of some fans and some of their peers. Recently, Ember Moon criticized WWE for “sacrificing all of your other superstars for two people.” This echoes the sentiment that making Sasha Banks and Bayley both dual champions leaves the rest of the women's roster underutilized.
That couldn't be further from the truth. It perpetuates this idea that women in the company can't get too successful or the others will suffer. Frankly, this mentality is more of an indictment on WWE's storied poor treatment of women. They've conditioned us to believe that there are only so many spots on the card for women, which ultimately pits them against each other.
A dual champion isn't a new concept. Fans have seen plenty of men famously hold two titles at once. Madison Rayne and Gail Kim were double champions with IMPACT/TNA. It's also a norm for Joshi promotions like STARDOM where Io Shirai held four titles at the height of her success in 2016.
It's only a recent addition to WWE's pantheon of women's champions but it doesn't have to signal gloom and doom. There is no reason why the company can't use this as an opportunity to put other women in secondary feuds and eventually build them into credible contenders. Critics shouldn't take umbrage with Sasha Banks and Bayley. They've effectively picked up the baton after Becky Lynch went on leave and carried the division, and the company, for the past few weeks.
There would be cause for concern if they were embarrassing their competition along the way. That isn't the case. In fact, they've produced several high-caliber matches with women on all three brands where they narrowly escaped with the victory.
For example, Bayley had an excellent match with Asuka on Monday's episode of RAW. In the end, she also got her comeuppance for attacking and mocking Kairi Sane a creative finish.
It's safe to assume that either Sasha Banks and Bayley will lose their title next weekend at SummerSlam. If not then, it will happen sooner than later. Nevertheless, their supremacy as a modern-day "Two Man Power Trip" will go down in history.
It will go on to prove that women can achieve more with WWE than they ever could. That is a message that shouldn't hinder anyone; it should inspire them.