Women main event Monday Night Raw for the first time in 12 years
Two women wrestled in the main event of WWE Raw for the first time since 2004, and in front of a raucous crowd in Los Angeles, Charlotte and Sasha Banks delivered one of the best women's matches of the year.
Banks won the Raw Women's Championship title for the first time in her career on the night after the WWE Draft, but dropped her championship and was injured by Charlotte at SummerSlam. Banks got another opportunity at Clash of the Champions and fell in a triple threat match, and in the early going Monday was dominated by Charlotte, who made it a point to try and damage Banks' lower back.
Charlotte is disliked by many WWE fans - she's a heel, after all - but on Monday she showed why she's been a champion on the main roster for more than a year. One of Charlotte's signature moves is a moonsault off the top rope, and she pulled off an even more difficult variation with Banks outside the ring. Charlotte scaled the turnbuckles and did a blind corkscrew moonsault that looked like an Olympic vault, just clipping Banks as she landed.
Charlotte seemed to have the match won after catching Banks with a brutal boot to the face, but Banks kicked out, recovered and eventually forced Charlotte to tap out.
Mick Foley confirmed that it was the first women's main event on Raw since December 6th, 2004, when Trish Stratus unsuccessfully defended her championship against Lita.
