In the final moments of a chaotic edition of "Monday Night Raw," Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair to become the Raw women's champion.
After the energy was largely sucked out of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the shocking break up of Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens midway through the show, Flair and Bayley put it all on the line in the night's main event and completely re-energized the crowd in the closing moments of the match.
Each woman had massive moments in the match; Flair hit a moonsault off of the ring barrier and maintained a physical edge for much of the contest, while Bayley came on with a late surge that included several vicious suplexes, a frankensteiner and a "Macho Man" Randy Savage-esque top-rope elbow.
The contest was ultimately decided by interference on the behalf of both Flair and Bayley. Dana Brooke made her first appearance in weeks to seemingly tip the balances for Flair, allowing the reigning Raw women's champion to apply her patented "figure eight" submission hold. But with the referee distracted, Sasha Banks ran to Bayley's aid and, unbeknownst to both Bayley and the referee, struck longtime rival Flair with a crutch.
After a Bayley-to-belly, Raw had a new women's champion. Bayley becomes the first woman other than Banks and Flair to hold the top women's championship on Raw since Nikki Bella last held the former Divas championship in September 2015. With Bayley's victory, all four of NXT's famed "four horsewomen" have now held gold on the main roster; Bayley, Banks and Flair on Raw, and Becky Lynch on "SmackDown Live."
Bayley also joins Banks, Flair and Paige in making former NXT women's champions four-for-four in ultimately going on to win a main roster title.
