Sasha Banks and Bayley will steal the show during SummerSlam weekend

This Saturday, the main event of NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn will feature Finn Balor defending the NXT championship against the man he won it from, Kevin Owens. While it will be the final match of the evening, it is the main event in name only. The true main event -- the conclusion of a wrestling story years in the making -- exists in the showdown between NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and her challenger, Bayley.

It’s with Bayley that most of the emotional weight of this match will be carried -- Sasha Banks is a tremendous talent, but her story has been told, her dreams at NXT achieved. Outside of holding on to the championship forever, she’s handled her business and found herself on WWE’s main roster, outside of NXT’s developmental world with the exception of this match and feud. Bayley’s story, however, began when she and her die-hard fangirl character arrived on the scene in mid-2013.

Bayley showed up, childlike and full of wonder at everything she was seeing. She seemed more fan than wrestler at the time, blown away by simply existing in the same space as everyone around her -- main roster superstars like then-WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee would show up, and Bayley would fawn all over them, stumbling over her (occasionally creepy) words with an endearing social awkwardness that the audience could identify with. Bayley was just like the most devoted of WWE fans when they see their heroes in front of them: the difference was that she could step into the ring, and create fans of her own.

Bayley’s excitement and hero-worship often got in her way during matches. While she was capable in the ring from the start, holding her own against even the likes of Lee, all it would take was an opponent playing hurt and preying on Bayley’s fandom, or for a wrestler to take advantage of Bayley’s attempts at friendship and hugs by striking first. If you’re not familiar, hugs are sacred to Bayley -- her shirt says “I’m A Hugger” in block lettering, and she shares them with fans and friends alike. Using a hug to put one over on Bayley? That’s just cold.

The feud that changed Bayley, the one that saw her take the next step in her development as a wrestler who wouldn’t let her love for the industry or its people get in the way of her success, came due to this very thing. Charlotte Flair, daughter of the legendary Ric Flair, joined NXT and had an instant friend in Bayley. Rather than befriend her back for real, Charlotte instead teamed with Bayley then used her as a stepping stone, turning on her in order to win a tag match so she could, in essence, sit at the cool kids table.

At the time, Sasha Banks was the lieutenant of Summer Rae, who had earlier on convinced Sasha to ditch the sweet, good girl aesthetic for her badder side. Bayley, as seems to be her theme, now stood alone and embarrassed.

This broke Bayley’s heart, as well as that of the audience. This wasn’t Bayley forgetting that the end goal is to win matches, overcome with the excitement of being a WWE superstar -- this was someone posing as a friend of the woman who wanted nothing more than to be friends with everyone, and only doing so as to pass some kind of mean-spirited initiation.

It was also something of a trend for Bayley: most of the roster that she’s interacted with in her two-plus years at NXT have either turned on her or used her for their own benefit. Even Natalya, who came down from the main roster to protect Bayley against Charlotte in her time of need, had a match with Charlotte and then essentially went home, leaving Bayley to fend for herself once Nattie’s own ego was satisfied.

Becky Lynch was an upbeat addition to the roster who became quick friends with Bayley upon arriving in NXT, but, like with Charlotte, the allure of being one of the mean girls was too much, and Sasha Banks once again had a friend to lord over Bayley. When Emma returned from WWE’s main roster to NXT, the place where she had been the upbeat fan-favorite before Bayley assumed that spot, Bayley assumed she had a friend.

What she had, though, was a different kind of enemy, one who told her that this shtick wasn’t going to work -- she was going to need to be mean to succeed, just like Emma was now mean after her own experience on the main roster effectively made her Dead Inside: The Wrestler. Just like all those “friends” who trampled Bayley underfoot to get to where they were.

It was a hard lesson Emma tried to teach, but there was some truth in it, as there often are when wrestling’s evil characters are doing their job correctly. Bayley didn’t need to be mean, exactly -- she didn’t need to sacrifice who she was and wanted to be in order to achieve her dreams of making it in the WWE. She could still have the headbands and the smiles and the adoration for her fans and the wacky waving inflatable tube men in her entrance.

What she needed to do, though, was begin to take care of herself, to fully believe in herself and support herself, because there were no guarantees anyone else would look out for her. WWE and its participants could be cruel, and while pleasantness and genuine people could thrive, naivety would only slow her down.

Charlotte, Becky, Natalya and Emma were real-world evidence of this in Bayley’s life. While Charlotte and Bayley eventually made amends -- with Charlotte even teaming up with her to take on essentially everyone else you’ve seen named here as they got in Bayley’s way -- there is no doubt that she’d turn on her again in a second if it meant glory for Charlotte. She is a Flair, you know, and if Bayley is to survive in world with Flairs and Banks and Summer Raes and Emmas, she needed to steel herself against them.

So, Emma was dispatched, even as she found her own partner in the egotistical Dana Brooke to try to bully Bayley. Emboldened, Bayley called out Charlotte, because there was something she needed to do: she needed to prove to herself that she was everything the fans believed she could be. Bayley needed to prove that she was the equal of all those who had turned on her over the years. She needed to beat Charlotte, one-on-one, and that need only increased as Charlotte, Becky Lynch and NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks were called up to the main roster.

If Bayley didn’t act soon, she would not be able to answer important questions about her place in WWE -- everyone who asked those questions, who made Bayley doubt herself over and over, were leaving. If Bayley were to become a champion at NXT at that point, it would be because there was no one left to challenge her, not because she rose to the level of those she once -- and in some cases still -- held dear and even looked up to.

Knowing Bayley’s intentions, Charlotte accepted the challenge. Bayley would be victorious in a match that nearly brought her opponent to tears on the ramp. Not because Charlotte was broken up about losing, but because the women she turned on, the naive young Flair fan who she had used for her own gain, had finally reached the point where she could prove she was anyone’s equal by defeating a main roster star and former NXT Women’s champ.

Bayley’s next challenge came in the form of Becky Lynch, in a number one contender match-up made by NXT general manager William Regal -- a good guy who wasn’t going to just hand Bayley a shot at the championship, a guy who knew as well as Bayley did what needed to be done in order for this championship chase to have its fullest meaning. Lynch, at this point, was no longer aligned with Sasha Banks, but whether she’s friendly or not, she is one of the most challenging opponents Bayley could take on.

The hero of this story did her homework, though, matching Becky move for move until she was finally able to reverse Lynch’s devastating submission finisher into a roll-up pin and a victory -- that was one more betrayal avenged, and all that was left now was Sasha and the NXT Women’s Championship.

On Wednesday night, Bayley and Sasha Banks stared each other down before the contract signing for this title bout. Sasha still does not believe in Bayley, nor does she fear her: gone is the Sasha of old who needed friends (like Charlotte and Becky) and false bravado to keep her afloat, to keep up the appearance of strength and confidence.

This Sasha knows she’s the best, has proven as much time and again, but she’s also been too preoccupied with her own success and greatness to notice that the Bayley she’s facing on Saturday isn’t the Bayley of old, the pushover who was easily fooled into being used for the gain of everyone else.

This Bayley chased a bored, insulting and confident Sasha back up the ramp, refusing to take being called a loser and non-threat like she might have in the past. This Bayley had to be held back by four referees, the very idea of which two years ago seemed impossible given where and who she was. This Bayley is ready to become the NXT Women’s Champion, and the kind of successful veteran and fan favorite she grew up and came to WWE adoring. This is now her chance to be the wrestler that young fans look up to like she looked up to her own heroes, the one who proves that you can still be yourself and succeed even in a cutthroat world like the one she inhabits.

This is your real NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn main event. One of the greatest, lengthiest stories WWE has told in recent years, at a time when the company is finally pushing women’s wrestling as something fans should love as much as men’s wrestling: after all, it’s all wrestling. Bayley and Sasha Banks might not be at the top of Saturday’s card, but there is no doubt they could steal the entire show even before the emotional weight of what Bayley is trying to accomplish hits you. And trust in this: if Bayley pins Sasha for that title, it’s going to hit you hard.