WWE Raw Getting It All So Right with Sasha Banks and So Wrong with Bayley

Sasha Banks and Bayley's current journeys through the WWE Raw realm couldn't be more different right now.

Banks is a fearless warrior and unrelenting dreamer with swagger to spare. Bayley, meanwhile, is presented as timid, declawed, a woman out of her element. She's the pure-of-heart babyface that WWE has struggled to take advantage of. 

The Boss is now set to face Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's Championship at Great Balls of Fire on July 9. Bayley doesn't have a clear storyline.

Banks rose to championship contention once more in a gutsy victory over the mauling beast Nia Jax on Monday's Raw. Bayley fell to the same opponent with little resistance, fading into the background of the match's story.

Raw closed with a Gauntlet match to decide the next No. 1 contender for the Raw women's title.

Bayley and Jax began the bout. The Huggable One didn't last long. Jax steamrolled her, making Bayley the first of her four victims that night.

Bayley didn't have to win here to make an impact, but WWE missed an opportunity to sell her as the underdog you can't help but root for. There were too few moments of her battling back against the monster. She didn't get to show the heart that made her so popular at NXT.

Jake Barnett of ProWrestling.net bemoaned the lack of story for Bayley here:

Banks, meanwhile, looked tremendous en route to victory. She outsmarted and outmaneuvered Jax. The Boss took every haymaker Jax had to offer and fought through it all.

Eventually, she wrapped her arms around Jax's head, clinging to her like a parasite and brought her to the ground with The Bank Statement.

The win was powerful. The path to it compelled, painting Banks as a badass. As Kyle Fowle of the A.V. Club put it, "The main event does its job selling Banks as the rightful contender."

This was no one-night anomaly. WWE has a far better understanding of who Banks is than it does with Bayley. 

In trying to generate sympathy for Bayley, it has made her look too weak. There's a major difference between a loser and an underdog and WWE has struggled with that distinction when it comes to Bayley.

At Extreme Rules, Bliss dominated her in a Kendo Stick on a Pole match. Bayley had the bamboo weapon in her grip but was too faint of heart to use it. Bliss snatched it from her and whipped her in the ring. Bayley lost quickly, easily and with little fight.

It goes deeper than losses, though.

Her character has been off for the majority of her main roster run.

The whole premise of the universally panned Bayley: This is Your Life segment on Raw was that Bliss made fun of how nerdy and nice Bayley was. In a sit-down interview with Corey Graves after her loss to Bliss, Bayley said, "I'm not here to put bruises on people's backs or to send them to the hospital. I'm here to put smiles on people's faces."

WWE is selling her as milquetoast, not the everywoman she should be. It's focused more on her shyness than her fire, spotlighting her childhood WWE fandom more than her desires to be great.

It's no wonder that people like Miami Herald columnist Scott Fishman have joked about WWE's use of Bayley:

And while WWE hasn't been flawless in its handling of Banks, The Boss is in a much better position from both a character and booking perspective. 

While Bayley and Bliss clashed, Banks was busy tangling with Alicia Fox.

She outlasted the former Divas champ in a feud that saw The Boss show spunk and skill. She beat Fox three times. She danced with Rich Swann. She slapped the spit out of Noam Dar.

Credit: WWE.com

Throughout the low-card rivalry, Banks was her same sauntering, flashy self. She was angry and focused. Those are traits we haven't seen from Bayley nearly enough.

And even when The Boss was losing bouts and not able to charge back toward the title, her failures wore on her. Banks flashed signs of a potential heel turn. We saw her begin to unravel, with frustration tearing at her.

When Jax left Banks in need of medical tape wrapped around her knee after the Royal Rumble in January, Banks seethed backstage, refusing to listen to rational advice. She snapped at Bayley, saying that she wasn't OK with coming up short.

Bayley hasn't been nearly as interesting. She's been the white bread of wrestling characters. WWE has a lot to figure out with Bayley moving forward, whereas the company has found a winning formula for The Boss. 

So, it's no wonder that while Banks is back in the title picture, Bayley is spinning her tires in the mud.