Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte: What WWE Is Doing Right, Wrong in Women's Title Feud

History and hoopla have been abundant ahead of Sasha Banks and Charlotte's battle inside Hell in a Cell.

WWE has made sure that the Raw Women's Championship bout at Sunday's WWE Hell in a Cell 2016 is momentous, pitting two archenemies against each other in an unsettling steel enclosure. This will mark the first time women have competed in a Hell in a Cell match.

The company has relied too heavily on the historic nature of that meeting at times but has done well to build toward the climax in The Devil's Playground.

The lights are bright. The stakes are high. And an air of dread hangs over Banks and Charlotte before their brutal showdown. 

The following is a look at where WWE hit the right notes and where it stumbled en route to this history-making match. 

Big-Fight Feel

WWE has loaded heaps of coal onto the hype train for Banks vs. Charlotte.

Years ago—or even last year, for that matter—women's matches didn't receive the type of hoopla that this Hell in a Cell clash has. The rivals have been featured consistently and prominently on TV leading up to the bout.

Banks and Charlotte met in the main event of Raw for the title on Oct. 3. Champion and challenger both sat down for backstage interviews with Lita. They later met in a high-profile contract-signing segment.

The WWE production team has put together quite the video package for the match, too. 

All these bells and whistles have made the bout feel special beyond being the first of its kind. It feels like the next major chapter in an ongoing saga.

And Banks and Charlotte have come through at every stage, proving WWE smart for investing in them and their story.

To Main-Event or Not to Main-Event?

Maybe WWE feels that having the first women's Hell in a Cell match is enough history for one night. It has hemmed and hawed about going one step further and making Banks vs. Charlotte the headline bout.

Never mind that, as John Canton of TJR Wrestling tweeted, "It's the best feud Raw has right now." Never mind that theirs is the match with the most buzz, intrigue and bad blood. 

WWE hasn't committed to placing Banks and Charlotte on the marquee.

As Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc noted, general manager Mick Foley first announced that the women would main-event, only to back-pedal soon after. Foley wrote on Facebook, "The main event is whatever each fan decides it is." WWE has tried to sell fans on the idea that the match is part of a "triple main event."

Those are both asinine concepts. There is no such thing as a triple main event. Banks vs. Charlotte either goes on last or it doesn't. 

If the company chooses another bout as its final contest, it will have whiffed on a major opportunity.

Spotlighting the Danger of Hell in a Cell

Days before Banks and Charlotte's historic match, Foley howled at the foes, warning of what awaited them inside Hell in a Cell. 

Foley left his famous 1998 Hell in a Cell match with a dislocated jaw, a hazy memory and one of his teeth lodged in his nose. There is no one better suited to play up the brutality of that steel structure than him.

Up to this point, there hadn't been nearly enough talk about how dangerous this match would be. This segment changed that. Foley laid out what was at stake and what these women would risk.

The moment showcased Charlotte's cockiness and Banks' fire.

When they both signed their names on those contracts, a normally banal moment became powerful. They weren't just agreeing to a match; they were signing on for a trip to hell.

Neither Roman Reigns vs. Rusev nor Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens has that ominous aura hanging over it.

History over Animosity

After Banks challenged Charlotte to climb inside The Devil's Playground with her, Foley emerged to tell the fans, "The women deserve to make history at Hell in a Cell."

Something didn't smell right. A structure hailed as one that shortens careers and leaves permanent scars on those who enter it was treated like a prize.

PWTorch's Wade Keller pinpointed the issue: "This shouldn't be presented as being all about 'making history.' This should be presented as a case where the only way to solve this intense rivalry between Sasha and Charlotte is inside a Cell, where Dana Brooke can't interfere to try to help Charlotte get her title back."

The history element can still be present, but it would be better suited for the background. The long history between these rivals, their need to finally end their feud and the seething hatred they hold for each other belong at the forefront of this story.

WWE has its priorities flipped here, zeroing in on precedence over personal issues.

Projections

WWE won't pull the trigger and let Banks vs. Charlotte main-event Hell in a Cell. If the company was going to that route, it would have announced it earlier and trumpeted the moment as loudly as possible.

That snub will only increase the weight of the chip on the women's shoulders. 

Banks and Charlotte will take jarring risks to prove WWE made a mistake. They will leap from the cage and put each other through hell to make it clear they belong in that structure and deserved all the hype they have received thus far.

After a stellar match, Banks and Charlotte's rivalry will end—but only temporarily. Like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn or Ric Flair and Sting, these rivals will never be done with each other.

Banks will win and move on to face Nia Jax, as WWE is likely to save the Bayley-Banks story for WrestleMania or SummerSlam. As for Charlotte, her protege, Dana Brooke, has long teased turning on her. When that happens, The Queen will have a familiar face to feud with as she looks to climb back into contention.