The Golden Role Models

**The Golden Role Models** began in WWE in 2016; while feuding with Charlotte and Dana Brooke, Sasha Banks announced a mystery partner for a match against her rivals at Battleground on July 24, 2016. At the event, the mystery partner was revealed to be Bayley, who teamed with Sasha Banks to defeat Charlotte and Brooke, in what was the duo's first on-screen team-up. Although Bayley was still a member of the *NXT* roster at the time, she moved to *Raw* on August 22 after failing to re-capture the NXT Women's Championship at TakeOver: Brooklyn II from Asuka, who had defeated her for the title at TakeOver: Dallas on April 1. She was introduced on *Raw* by General Manager Mick Foley as the new challenger for Charlotte's Raw Women's Championship. Meanwhile, Bayley and Banks would become regular tag team partners on house shows via a three-way alliance with Alicia Fox, which lasted from September 16, 2016 to February 5, 2017, during which the three mostly feuded with Flair, Brooke and Nia Jax in winning efforts. Although the two were still active as a tag team in house shows, this was presented as a mostly off-match alliance on-screen by WWE, although they still occasionally pair up on screen, notably at 2016's Survivor Series event, where they were both a part of Team *Raw* in the women's Survivor Series match against Team *SmackDown*, which they won with Bayley and Charlotte (now renamed Charlotte Flair) as the match's survivors.

On the February 13, 2017 episode of *Raw*, Bayley defeated Flair for the WWE Raw Women's Championship with the help of Banks, later retaining it in a Fatal-4-Way elimination match against Banks, Flair and Jax at WrestleMania 33.[13][14] She would eventually lose it to Alexa Bliss at Payback.[15] Banks would then win the title at SummerSlam, only to lose it back to Bliss eight days later on the August 28, 2017 episode of *Raw*.[16][17]

At the end of 2017, Banks, Bayley and Mickie James started a feud with the debuting faction Absolution (Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville), who continuously attacked them. This led to various singles and tag team matches, that were mostly won by Absolution. At the Royal Rumble, Banks was the first entry in the first women's royal rumble match, and she eliminated Vickie Guerrero, Bayley and Trish Stratus, lasting an astounding 54:46, before being eliminated by The Bella Twins. A few weeks later, both Bayley and Banks took part in the first ever women's elimination chamber match at the namesake pay-per-view, during which, after working together during the match, Banks pushed Bayley off a pod to help Alexa Bliss, the eventual winner, eliminate her.

On the March 26 episode of *Raw*, after weeks of animosity between the two, including Bayley betraying Banks during their matches, they brawled backstage and had to be separated. Banks and Bayley faced off in mid-April, but their match ended in a no-contest after The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan) interfered and attacked them both. In the following weeks, Banks competed in different singles and tag team matches in both winning and losing efforts. In June, after she defeated Ruby Riott in the finals of a gauntlet match for the last spot, Banks competed for the first time in her career in a Money in the Bank ladder match, that was ultimately won by Alexa Bliss. Throughout mid-2018, after Banks and Bayley continued to attack each other, they were told to attend counsellor meetings to help maintain their friendship. In July, the two reconciled resumed teaming up, dubbing themselves "**The Boss 'n' Hug Connection**".

After a short hiatus from the ring due to an undisclosed injury, Banks returned to WWE television in October and took part in the first ever all women's pay-per-view Evolution, where she teamed with Bayley and Natalya in a winning effort against The Riott Squad. In November, Banks again competed at Survivor Series as part of Team *Raw*, where she was the last woman from the team that was eliminated by Asuka after an attack by teammate Nia Jax.

On February 17, 2019, at Elimination Chamber, Banks and Bayley won the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Championship by lastly eliminating Mandy and Sonya in a six tag team Elimination Chamber match. In their first title defense, Banks and Bayley successfully retained over Jax and Tamina, at Fastlane. At WrestleMania 35, Banks and Bayley lost the championships to The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) in a fatal four-way tag team match after Kay pinned Bayley, ending their reign at 49 days.

After WrestleMania, Banks would take a leave from WWE. This led Bayley to resume her activities as a singles wrestler, soon being drafted to *SmackDown*. She would go on to win the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank event, before cashing in against Flair later the same night and defeating her for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship, which Flair herself had just won from Becky Lynch. This also made Bayley the first ever Women's Triple Crown Champion and women's Grand Slam Champion in WWE history.

Banks would return to WWE on the August 12 episode of *Raw* as a heel, attacking Natalya and donning a new blue hairstyle. On the September 2 episode of *Raw*, while Banks was attacking her future Clash of Champions opponent Becky Lynch with a chair, Bayley appeared to interfere, only to attack Lynch with the chair herself, turning heel for the first time in her career and reestablishing her tag team with Banks (although they would not use the "Boss 'n' Hug Connection" moniker anymore). As Banks was still on the *Raw* roster, the duo would appear on both *Raw* and *SmackDown*. At Hell in a Cell, Bayley lost the SmackDown Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair, but regained it five days later on *SmackDown*. On the same night, Banks was drafted to *SmackDown*, making both part of the same brand again. At Starrcade, the duo competed in a fatal four-way tag team match for the Women's Tag Team Championship, but the match was won by defending champions The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane).

In 2020, the team gained significant momentum as the front-runners of the women's division. Continuing to act as heels, they started being referred to as "**The Golden Role Models**", due to their proclamations of being role models for young girls around the world. At WrestleMania 36, Bayley defended her SmackDown Women's Championship against Banks and three other women in a fatal five-way elimination match, last pinning Lacey Evans with help from Banks to retain. On the June 5, 2020 episode of *SmackDown*, Banks and Bayley defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, reclaiming the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship for a record-tying second time and making Bayley a double champion. As the Women's Tag Team Titles are defended across all WWE brands, the duo began to compete not only on their home brand of *SmackDown*, but also on *Raw* and *NXT*. During the following months, they defended the Tag Team Titles against the likes of Bliss and Cross, The IIconics, and Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart. At The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, Bayley retained the SmackDown Title against Cross, while Banks challenged Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship in a match, which ended with Bayley putting on a referee shirt and counting a cover from Banks before declaring her the winner. Stephanie McMahon, however, proceeded to rule the match as a no contest, meaning Asuka was still officially the champion.

On July 20 (aired July 27), Banks faced Asuka once again for the Raw Title, in a match where Asuka could lose the title by disqualification or count-out. During the match, Bayley attacked Asuka's partner Kairi Sane backstage, and Asuka left the match to go help Sane, resulting in Banks winning by count-out and thus winning the Raw Women's Championship for a record-breaking fifth time. With Banks and Bayley concurrently holding the Raw Women's Championship, the SmackDown Women's Championship, and the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, they became the first tag team in history to hold every women's title on *Raw* and *SmackDown* simultaneously. At SummerSlam, both Banks and Bayley defended their championships against Asuka. Although Bayley successfully retained the SmackDown Women's Championship, Banks lost the Raw Women's Championship later that night. At the Payback pay-per-view on August 30, Banks and Bayley defended the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against the newly-formed team of Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, where they lost the titles.

On the September 4 episode of *SmackDown*, following a loss to Jax and Baszler in a rematch, Bayley turned on Banks by brutalizing her in the ring, thereby disbanding their team.