WWE SummerSlam 2016: Sasha Banks is ready to prove she deserves to be WWE Women’s Champ

Sasha Banks, WWE Women’s Champion. Even weeks after she won the title on the Monday Night RAW right after Battleground, it’s still only just setting in that Sasha Banks is the top woman in WWE. Many would call her the queen of WWE, but Sasha would be quick to correct them — she’s the Legit Boss of WWE, and don’t you forget it.

This success didn’t come out of nowhere, even if it’s still taking time to set in. Sasha taking Charlotte down to win the WWE Women’s Championship shouldn’t have come as a surprise. She has the talent, she has the drive, she has the conviction to not just win that title, but to hold on to it. She’s shown in WWE that she has what it takes, and she showed in NXT that she has what it takes, including taking the NXT Women’s Championship from Charlotte.

And just like she did back then, Sasha can establish herself as the dominant champion in the women’s division. More than that, Sasha Banks can be the face of said division, a wrestler who can propel women in WWE to the levels they claim they’re already at.

For Sasha, this moment, getting to defend the Women’s Championship at SummerSlam on August 21, has been coming for a long, long time. She came up from NXT and became a major figure in WWE on the same night as Charlotte in 2015, but then had to sit back and watch as her one-time NXT tag team partner and championship rival passed her by once more.

It was Sasha, along with Bayley, who put on what many believe to be 2015’s match of the year at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn last August, but that glorious, show-stealing feud and the resolution it required at the next NXT live special meant Sasha needed to be elsewhere after her call-up to the main WWE roster — that gave Charlotte the unimpeded opening she needed.

Sasha had to watch as Charlotte took the championship from Nikki Bella just two months after their joint call-up from NXT, then wait through months of challenges from Paige and fellow former NXT-er Becky Lynch, then title opportunities handed to the likes of Brie Bella and Natalya — all valuable members of the roster, all worthy of championship opportunities, but none of them the potential face of women’s wrestling in WWE like Sasha.

Banks fought, and she fought, and she fought some more. Sometimes she had to fight injuries, too — a ref even accidentally kneed her in the head and concussed her during a house show earlier this year — but no matter what stood in her way, she got through it. Nothing was going to keep Sasha Banks from getting her shot at the title, even if it felt like the universe and the occasional errant knee sometimes disagreed.

Sasha’s first crack at the Women’s Championship came in a triple threat match at WrestleMania 32, only to have what looked like a sure pinfall on the champion broken up by Charlotte’s dad, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. Sasha was sidelined for a while after that match, but that gave her the opportunity to get ready and pick her spot (while also building tension within crowds that so desperately wanted Banks to be their champion). When her opportunity came in July on the first RAW after the brand-split draft, Sasha pounced and took full advantage of it — just like she has throughout her career in the ring.

The long-awaited one-on-one match against Charlotte was incredible, and it wasn’t long before the result was obvious: Sasha was not going to let the title slip away again, and was ready to throw herself around like a rag doll to make sure that wouldn’t happen. For her efforts, she ended walked away holding the title high above her head for the first time in her career.

Now she’s the not just the Legit Boss in name, she’s also the champ, and Sasha is ready to make it her own and stay on top of the mountain. Charlotte is going to do everything she can to win the title back on Sunday — this week’s RAW saw Charlotte’s lackey, Dana Brooke, help injure the champs’ leg heading into SummerSlam — but when Sasha is showing the determination and focus that she’s had this past couple of months, she’s almost impossible to stop. Ric Flair? Out of the picture. Dana Brooke? Sasha made sure she won’t be a factor at SummerSlam itself with a victory over her a week ago.

The only thing Sasha has to deal with is Charlotte, and she’s proved time and again that she has what it takes to beat the former Women’s Champion. Charlotte dominated the division long enough, and now it’s Sasha’s time. The Boss is the champion, Sasha Banks is in control, and she’s not giving it up any time soon if she has anything to say about it.