WrestleMania 32 is not exactly one in every of the highest-regarded shows within the event’s history, but one shiny spot on the night was the match for the WWE Women’s Championship, pitting then-Divas Champion Charlotte Flair against her fellow members of the 4 Horsewomen, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch. By the top of the night, Flair would trade within the butterfly belt for the newly-revealed women’s title to assist solidify a brand new era of ladies’s wrestling. Though she could have develop into the brand new champion after retaining the status of the old belt, she owed loads to Banks and Lynch for help getting her there with an incredible match.
Before the ladies walked down the ramp at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, their match was puffed up with a video package highlighting their roles within the “Women’s Revolution,” which kicked into overdrive with their callups to the essential roster from “WWE NXT.” Notably, the fourth member of the Horsewomen, Bayley, wasn’t called up on the time, as she remained in “NXT” to carry things down for one more yr after the departure of the opposite three women.
After Flair successfully retained the Divas title on the 2016 Royal Rumble against Lynch, the long run “Man” and Banks would duke it out twice to find out the primary contender to Flair’s title at WrestleMania. Lynch and Banks’ first match led to a double pin, and the second a no contest after interference by Flair, resulting in “The Queen” being scheduled to defend her gold in a triple threat again each women on the “Grandest Stage of Them All.”
At WrestleMania 32, Flair, Banks, and Lynch, all competing of their first-ever WrestleMania, the ladies would go on to have a just over-16 minute banger, which might find yourself being among the finest of the night.
Horsewomen take ‘Mania
The ladies kept up a quick pace and did a wonderful job of keeping one woman out of the combo to concentrate on one-on-one motion, not less than until the ultimate act of the match. It was Flair and Lynch to lock up first, but Banks was not far behind. They traded quick pins to try and wrap up the match early, but that wasn’t to be.
Flair and Lynch took each other out of the ring to concentrate on Banks, who held her own, until Flair tripped her up and sent her back-first into the ring apron. Lynch and Flair traded offense, with Lynch dodging the figure 4 to lock in her own Dis-Arm-Her. Ric Flair, who was at ringside, briefly distracted the referee, but Lynch had the hold cinched in until Banks broke it up. Banks also broke up one other figure 4 on Lynch, this time with an enormous frog splash from the highest.
Lynch hit a Manhandle Slam to Flair, but Banks broke that up, too. Banks hit a suicide dive to Flair and took her out, and Lynch followed up with one in every of her own, but took out Ric as a substitute. Flair hit the moonsault from the highest rope to the surface, taking out each challengers, then hit them with a double Natural Selection, but they each kicked out.
All three women traded their signature submission holds, including Banks along with her Bank Statement. Flair hit a spear on Banks and Lynch tried to capitalize, but all competitors ended up fighting within the corner until Lynch hit a Becksploder to Flair from the highest rope. In the long run, Flair broke up a Bank Statement on Lynch, and got Lynch within the figure eight as Ric kept Banks out of the ring, causing Lynch to tap, and Flair to make history with the WWE Women’s Championship.
Match Reception & Fallout
Flair, Banks, and Lynch’s match for the Divas title-turned-WWE Women’s Championship was one in every of the best rated matches of WrestleMania 32, the event which featured the likes of Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose in a no holds barred street fight, the Undertaker defeating Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match, and Roman Reigns defeating Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. The event overall was rated one in every of the worst of the yr by the top of 2016, earning the accolade of “Worst MajorWrestling Show” within the yr’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.
Dave Meltzer of the Observer gave the ladies’s triple threat match a 4 star rating, rating second of the night only to the 4 and 1 / 4 star rating of the seven-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship that was ultimately won by Zack Ryder. Fans on Cagematch have rated the ladies’s match a 8.49 out of 10, based on 572 lifetime votes. Back in 2016, the match held a 8.6 rating.
All three women would go on to have incredible careers where they’ve all racked up gold and accolades, but within the immediate weeks and months following WrestleMania 32, Flair remained at the peak of the division. She was presented the brand new championship formally the subsequent night on “WWE Raw,” where she began a feud with in-ring veteran Natalya. Flair successfully defended her title against Natalya thrice, and at Extreme Rules that yr, would break away from her father.
Banks and Flair would go one-on-one again, when the title had been renamed to the Raw Women’s Championship, after Banks made Flair tap out during a tag team match at Battleground. On “Raw” the subsequent night, Banks defeated Flair to capture essential roster gold for the primary time.