Debating the Best Sasha Banks Match of the Last Decade in WWE

When a performer is as consistently excellent as Sasha Banks has been over the course of her run in WWE, it is difficult to decide which of her many in-ring offerings stands above the rest as the absolute best.

Responsible for so many significant and historically relevant contests, she has delivered many iconic performances that will one day land her in the company's Hall of Fame.

To determine which of her otherworldly matches is her best of the last decade, we must look at its historical significance, overall quality and what it meant to her own journey through pro wrestling.

It was not easy, but these are her five best matches of the last 10 years.

WrestleMania 32 was the first opportunity for Banks, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair to prove their work in NXT was not an anomaly and they could shine when the lights were brightest.

In front of 100,000 fans inside AT&T Stadium in Dallas, The Legit Boss strutted her way to the ring alongside cousin Snoop Dogg, ready to show up and show out in a way that announced to the wrestling world she was every bit the star she claimed to be.

And she did just that.

Banks was the star of the match, partly due to her performance and partly because the fans treated her as such. They wanted her to knock off the spoiled and entitled Flair and to down the fiery Lynch.

That didn't happen but there was no denying that by the time Flair hoisted the gold and exited the ring, it was The Boss who had established herself the most over the of the Four Horsewomen.

An energetic match that appropriately spotlighted all three competitors en route to a dramatic finish, it ranks lowest of the five on this countdown because just a sampling of the many great matches they would go on to have. 

Or, in Banks' case, just the latest on a resume brimming with superb in-ring performances.

The global pandemic of 2020 may have done a great disservice to the wrestling business, but it did do one positive thing for Banks and best friend Bayley: It positioned them as the centerpieces of women's wrestling for a large portion of the year.

Whether it was The Boss backing up The Role Model during the latter's SmackDown Women's Championship defenses, beating Raw's Asuka for that brand's title or reigning over the tag team division as champions, Banks was all over WWE television.

When a frustrated Bayley betrayed her friend, their feud culminated in an eagerly anticipated Hell in a Cell match at the same-titled pay-per-view.

Banks found herself on the receiving end of a beating at the hands of Bayley, who was relentless in punishing her former friend. The Boss fought through the pain, though, and ultimately countered one last Bayley-to-Belly suplex into a chair-assisted Bank Statement for the submission win and championship.

For a lesser performer than Banks, this would have marked the high point of her in-ring career and ranked at No. 1, but The Boss is a virtuoso. She was superb and fired back with intensity and aggression when it was called for.

The brutality of the match was one thing, but it was as much Bayley's character work that helped elevate the quality. Insufferably loud, she talked trash and took pleasure in beating down her friend.

Banks' resiliency was equally significant to the quality of the bout as she gutted it out long enough to defeat the one woman who had repeatedly proved problematic over the course of her career.

On the heels of a generational match between Banks and Bayley at TakeOver: Brooklyn in August 2015, there was a great demand for a rematch. They had set a standard for women's wrestling and brought more attention to it than anyone in years.

Two months after their industry-altering showdown in Brooklyn, Banks and Bayley etched their names in the history books by becoming the first two women to main-event an NXT TakeOver show. Even more impressive was the fact that it would be a 30-minute Iron Man match.

For 29 minutes, they wrestled an even contest. The number of falls tied at two apiece, and with a sense of urgency setting in, they upped the intensity.

Taking a page out Banks' book from their previous encounter, Bayley targeted her opponent's injured hand, trapping The Boss in a submission and then bending her fingers backward. She added some kicks and stomps to further intensify the pain before Banks had no choice but to tap out, gifting the match to her rival.

It would have been difficult for any two Superstars to replicate such a legendary encounter just two months after it initially happened, let alone two who were still developing as performers.

The Iron Man match was a celebration of all that Banks and Bayley had accomplished together and the end of an era for The Boss in NXT. After her loss to the babyface, she would make the jump to the main roster, where she would build her legacy and rewrite the history books.

The pressure on Banks entering WrestleMania 37 would have been too much for a lesser-talented performer to handle.

Not only was she the SmackDown women's champion, competing in the main event of the show's first night and doing so against a relatively untested young performer in Bianca Belair, but their match would also be the first time two Black women headlined a WrestleMania main event.

With the weight of the world on her shoulders, Banks did what she has done so many times throughout the course of her career in WWE: She rose to the occasion and reminded fans just who the standard-bearer in women's wrestling is.

The Boss and Belair tore the house down in Tampa, Florida and delivered the weekend's most emotional and memorable contest. Their faces conveyed the significance of the bout, but there was also a physical intensity that reminded viewers that this was still a title contest.

A dramatic match that saw Belair rise to the moment and match her opponent's greatness ended with her whipping Banks' midsection and delivering the Kiss of Death for the win and the title. As memorable as the winner's post-match celebration, though, was the image of Banks sitting on the arena floor, looking up at Belair with a smile across her face.

There are other matches on this list that may be better from a quality standpoint, but one would be hard-pressed to find one more significant and capable of eliciting the emotion that this 'Mania main event did.

It was Belair's coronation, but it was one more announcement from Banks that there may be other women more favored by WWE Creative, but none who can consistently match the moment in those high-profile title bouts the way she can.

It is a standard she set incredibly high in 2015 in her magnum opus with best friend Bayley in Brooklyn.

There may never again be a women's match in WWE better than Banks vs. Bayley from TakeOver: Brooklyn in August 2015.

That may sound like hyperbole for those unfamiliar with the bout, but the classic encounter those women created in one of the most hotly anticipated matches in NXT history was nothing short of art.

Banks entered the match as the egotistical champion. She knew she was a star and did not foresee a scenario in which the happy-to-be-there Bayley could beat her and take her women's title away.

Bayley was the consummate underdog; a lifelong fan chasing her dreams of holding a title she once thought unattainable.

The stage was set for a showdown of polar opposites and an emotional battle with the top prize in women's wrestling at stake. With expectations high based on her previous performances on the TakeOver stage, Banks did as she had done previously and shined.

Upping the intensity as she looked to thwart the challenge of her fan-girl opponent, she targeted Bayley's injured hand. She cut off every attempt made by her opponent to take her title and late in the match, appeared to be on the verge of victory. She trapped Bayley in her Bank Statement finisher and proceeded to viciously stomp on her injured hand.

Bayley escaped the hold, delivered a poisonrana from the top rope and put Banks away with the Bayley-to-Belly to pay off her journey to the gold.

The electric atmosphere created by fans helped elevate the quality of the contest, but the performances of the real-life best friends and the determination to steal the entire weekend from even the biggest WWE stars were responsible for its elevation into all-time-great status.

It was a star-making performance for Bayley but for Banks, it was confirmation of her excellence as a performer and the launching point for a career that took her to the highest levels of competition in WWE.

Banks may currently find herself at the center of controversy following a walk-out on Raw, but there is no denying how great she has been for the company and women's wrestling as a whole.

She has created a persona and backed it up with extraordinary in-ring ability, and the result is The Legit Boss, a character that will continue to create moments and matches that only further her case as the GOAT in women's wrestling.