Sasha Banks

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.

Sting Recounts Conversations with McMahon over WWE Move

For more than a decade after WCW was bought out by WWE in 2001, fans wondered whether Sting would follow many of his colleagues and wrestle under the WWE banner. It finally happened in 2014.

Sting revealed on a Christmas Eve episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast (via Wrestling Inc's Ross Kelly) that he and Vince McMahon had spoken about a move well before that:

"After [WCW] ended, we never did talk. There was never any discussion, at least not immediately after. It was, maybe, a year after that Vince reached out and we had a conversation and talking with Vince was always good. But then you get his group of attorneys and my attorney and it all kinda falls apart. Long story short, I wasn't willing to make the commitment that he wanted."

The Hall of Famer also recalled how he explained to McMahon at one point how he was going to sign with TNA, to which the WWE chairman responded, "BLAH!"

Stratus Talks Possible Banks Match

Trish Stratus' days as a full-time wrestler are over, but that hasn't stopped her from making the occasional appearance in recent years. She faced off with Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2019 and teamed with Lita to take on Alicia Fox and Mickie James at Evolution.

During an appearance on Women's Wrestling Talk (via Kelly), Stratus expressed her belief that a match with Sasha Banks is something "fans want to see and I think deep down I would like to see." She added she respects Banks "as a person and as an athlete and as a performer and as a friend."

"And so, when we had a simple face-off at Royal Rumble and people are still buzzing about it how many years later and talking about it like it's a dream match. And so, I've always said since I have retired, if there was an opportunity for me to go back it would be for something that's challenging, stimulating, the fans want it. Something that's exciting and it does something for both parties involved. So, she kinda fits the bill in that regard. Not to say I'm coming back; I'm just saying that's someone that I think...Trish Stratus and Sasha Banks is a nice pairing."

It doesn't seem like it would take much for WWE to get the 45-year-old back in the ring for a marquee pay-per-view bout.

Jericho Intervened in Dynamite Match Booking

Chris Jericho and MJF earned a victory over Top Flight on AEW's Holiday Bash edition of Dynamite on Wednesday.

According to Wrestling Observer Radio's Dave Meltzer (via Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc), Dante and Darius Martin "had all kinds of ideas for the match" before Jericho weighed in to dictate how the bulk of the match would unfold.

Rather than attempting to take the spotlight away from Top Flight, Meltzer said Jericho was weighing in and using his experience to show how some of the spots were unnecessary to tell a good story during the match.

Ratings were down for Friday night's episode of SmackDown as expected since the show aired on FS1 rather than Fox because of the Pac-12 Championship Game between Oregon and USC.

According to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown averaged 1.030 million viewers during its two-hour broadcast on FS1. That was down from last week's viewership of 2.206 million.

This week's SmackDown featured the final build before Sunday's TLC pay-per-view, including a main event segment featuring universal champion Roman Reigns and challenger Kevin Owens, who will square off in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs match on Sunday.

The common thread throughout the show was Reigns having Jey Uso attack KO in order to prevent him from making it to TLC.

Despite that, Owens confronted Reigns to end the show. While KO initially got the jump on Uso, Uso and Reigns eventually overwhelmed Owens.

Reigns and Uso then buried Owens under tables, ladders and chairs, but once they got backstage, Owens emerged and declared he would beat Reigns at TLC "or die trying."

SmackDown also built to the SmackDown Women's Championship match between titleholder Sasha Banks and challenger Carmella. "The Untouchable" Carmella cut a strong promo about why she believed she would beat The Boss at TLC.

Banks interrupted and attacked Carmella, as well as her sommelier when he attempted to step in. Mella got the upper hand for the second week in a row, however, when she hit Sasha with a bottle of champagne.

Also on SmackDown, The Street Profits beat Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode to retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, Bayley defeated Bianca Belair after raking The EST's eyes, Otis beat Shinsuke Nakamura and The Riott Squad defeated Billie Kay and Tamina.

Next week's SmackDown will return to Fox, and it will feature fallout from Sunday's TLC pay-per-view event.

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