With friends like these…

Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks
SmackDown Women’s Championship
Hell in a Cell match

For a while this summer, it seemed as if we’d never get here. Sasha and Bayley were dripping in gold, holding all the women’s titles outside of the NXT women’s championship, and showed no sign of slowing down. Sure, their friendship seemed tense at moments, but what’s a little competitiveness between besties?

Unfortunately for the duo (and fortunately for us), their friendship fell apart when they lost the women’s tag team titles to Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler.

In a preemptive strike, Bayley took out her bestie “before she could take me out,” effectively ending their friendship and igniting their feud.

The road to Hell in a Cell

Sasha was on the shelf for a couple of weeks after Bayley’s brutal attack, but The Boss would not be deterred. She worked tirelessly and pushed herself to recover so she could face her former friend and take her championship. She even went as far as to attack Bayley before she was adequately heeled, further prolonging her absence and Bayley’s chance to gloat.

But our past always catches up with us, and once Sasha was cleared, her eyes were only set on Bayley. Bayley tried to duck her for a couple of weeks, but Sasha arranged for them to have a match at Hell in a Cell.

Bayley tried to squirrel her way out of the match by pretending she was too good for the encounter and refusing to sign, but Sasha had a backup plan and a steel chair.

After getting Bayley to totally and entirely legally sign the contract, the match was set. The two will be facing each other tonight where all their hatred and years of built-up grievances will be trapped inside Hell in a Cell.

What’s at stake?

There are two things on the line tonight: the tone for this feud’s future and Sasha Banks’s ability to retain a title.

Sasha and Bayley have a history of putting everything on the line when they face each other an tonight should be no different. They have faced each other in brutal matches before, the iron man match comes to mind, but they have never faced each other in a cell. In fact, Sasha is the only one of the duo with HIAC experience giving her a distinct advantage. Expect to see innovative ways of destroying each other, giving plenty of reasons to excuse their loss to the opponent who loses because make no mistake; this is the first of many matches between these two. There is too much history to leave it all in hell.

If Sasha wins tonight – and she should – will we be sent into another Banks hot potato belt spiral, or will she be able to retain the title while furthering the feud?

Tune in tonight at 7 pm Eastern on the WWE Network and follow along with the results right here on CageSideSeats!

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