WrestleMania 37: Bianca Belair tops Sasha Banks, Bobby Lashley retains, Bad Bunny flies
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April 11, 2021, 5:49 PM
19 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleRecaps for the second night of WrestleMania 37 can be found here.
Bianca Belair pinned Sasha Banks in the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 37 on Saturday, winning the SmackDown women's championship in an instant classic. Both women put on career-defining performances, with Belair putting herself definitively in the top echelon of WWE superstars.
On a night where Bobby Lashley and Cesaro also earned wins that could completely reshape the trajectory of their careers, and Bad Bunny raised the bar for celebrity appearances to an impossibly high mark, Belair and Banks put a cap on a night of WrestleMania action that overachieved on many fronts. Perhaps most importantly, it happened in front of the first live stadium crowd the WWE has had in over a year, at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium.
As the first bell rang it felt as big as any WrestleMania main event that had preceded it. Dueling chants for both women rang out throughout the stadium. The match started with shoves, moves and counter-moves, but the roles were clear from the beginning: Banks was the established, if entitled, champion defending her territory, and Belair was the meteorically fast-rising star with raw power breaking through every savvy move Banks threw at her.
Each move took the emotionally charged match to a new level. Banks connected with a suicide dive to the outside, but Belair rolled backward with Banks in her grip, pressed Banks over her head, walked up the stairs and dumped Banks back in the ring over the top rope.
Searching for her own bit of offense, Banks grabbed Belair's long signature ponytail and used it against Belair to increase the potency of her running knee, following it up with several significant strikes. But Belair, who was never down for long in the fast-paced, high-energy showdown, had a counter for Banks' plan.
Belair again showed off her raw strength with a stalling vertical suplex, during which she bounced Banks off the top rope twice, and dipped her knees twice before finally bringing Banks to the ground.
While Banks had her fair share of high-flying offense throughout, Belair dug deep into her own arsenal, getting a running start before flipping herself into a standing shooting star press.
That high-flying offense turned against Belair, as an attempt at a 450 splash from the top rope was countered when Banks got her knees up. But Belair snatched Banks out of midair, folded Banks with a powerbomb and then added a second before stacking up Banks up for a pinfall. But as was the case throughout the match, Banks pulled a counter out of nowhere as Belair attempted a third powerbomb, somehow flipping it through into a Facebuster of her own.
Banks connected with a big running boot to Belair in the corner, followed by a tornado DDT, but Belair kicked out at two. After a scramble, a headscissor spin-around set Banks up for her Banks Statement finisher. At first, Banks brought Belair's braid into play, choking Belair with it, but eventually locked Belair into a proper Banks Statement.
Even as Belair was in peril, the movement and momentum continued to shift, moment by moment. Banks tried to roll back toward the middle of the ring to keep the submission locked in, but Belair rolled them both back toward the bottom rope.
Belair sent Banks into the corner, and drove her shoulder into Banks' midsection multiple times. She climbed to the top rope, but Banks pushed her down. Belair got trapped on the top rope but dodged both of Banks' signature moves from that position -- a flying double stomp from the top rope, and then charging double knees toward the corner.
Belair successfully landed the 450, but Banks kicked out at the last possible moment. Banks flipped out of Belair's finisher, the KOD, and Banks grabbed Belair's braid one final time. Digging deep into her bag of tricks from her past, Belair used her braid as a whip, sending a sickening crack sound through the Tampa night that significantly marked Banks' midsection.
One final scramble had the crowd on edge, as Banks went for the backstabber to set up the Banks statement, only for Belair to spin through, hit the KOD and pick up the 1-2-3.
What's next: Belair's win is a chance at a complete reset of the women's divisions on both Raw and SmackDown. The buildup for this great match was choppy and messy, and the women of WWE deserve better storytelling to match up with the quality of in-ring performance on display. If Becky Lynch is soon to return as well, there's more than enough talent on both shows to sustain separate stories for the women's singles and tag team titles, which is the absolute bare minimum of what should be executed going forward.
