Sasha Banks

All Elite Wrestling star Sammy Guevara has been suspended by the promotion and will be required to undergo sensitivity training after audio of Guevara saying in 2016 he wanted to rape WWE star Sasha Banks resurfaced on social media. 

During a January 2016 appearance on the podcast RAW's 4th Hour, Guevara said he had just worked as an extra on a WWE taping and spoke about seeing Banks.

"When I was at the WWE the other week I wanted to just go f--king rape that woman," he said (h/t Wrestling Inc's Marc Middleton).

Guevara issued an apology in a statement on Twitter:

Banks said she spoke with Guevara about the comment and that they had "an open discussion" in which he apologized:

The spotlight turned to Guevara as the entire wrestling business faces a reckoning from the #SpeakingOut movement on social media.

Women from inside and outside of the industry have come forward to share their experiences of sexual misconduct and emotional abuse by male wrestlers and promoters. Sports Illustrated's Dan Gartland and Justin Barrasso documented some of the stories that surfaced in recent days.

All Elite Wrestling released a statement last Friday to say "we are aware of various reports" connected to Jimmy Havoc and that Havoc was going to undergo treatment and mental health counseling.

Havoc's ex-girlfriend, Rebecca Crow, alleged he had been emotionally abusive throughout their relationship.

Sasha Banks and Bayley beat the teams of Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross and The IIconics in a Triple Threat tag team match at Backlash on Sunday to retain the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships.

Banks utilized the Triple Threat rules to great effect. 

Bliss connected with Twisted Bliss on Peyton Royce, but The Legit Boss interrupted the pinfall and rolled up The Goddess for the win. 

Banks and Bayley defeated Bliss and Cross to win the belts on the June 5 episode of SmackDown. On the following edition of Raw, The IIconics announced they had been given a title opportunity alongside a rematch for Bliss and Cross, making it a Triple Threat at Backlash.

The title feud was initially between The IIconics and Bliss and Cross after the Australian pair returned on Raw in May after a six-month hiatus. They immediately targeted the then-champions and made it clear they were coming after the belts.

In their first match back, Royce and Billie Kay beat Bliss and Cross in a non-title bout, which led to them receiving a title shot the following week. Bliss and Cross retained, though, when Royce was disqualified for continually ramming The Goddess into the ring post.

With The IIconics failing to capture the titles, Banks and Bayley saw an opportunity to thrust themselves into the championship scene, interrupting "A Moment of Bliss" on SmackDown to mock Bliss and Cross.

That led to a singles match between Banks and Bliss, and The Boss managed to prevail despite the fact that she wasn't even dressed to compete.

By virtue of that win, Banks and Bayley were given a championship match and came away victorious. There was some tension between them during the match when the latter tagged herself in and essentially pulled The Boss out of the ring, but they remained on the same page long enough to prevail.

There were some questions regarding whether Banks and Bayley would be able to co-exist at Backlash since there have been obvious issues between them despite their success. The Role Model has gotten too big for her breeches as SmackDown women's champion at times and has often spoken for her teammate rather than allowing her to express herself.

Issues existed between Kay and Royce ahead of Backlash as well, especially after the former slapped the latter across the face after she got them disqualified in their championship match.

Banks and Bayley were able to retain the titles at Backlash despite some shakiness in their friendship, and the question remains whether losing the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships some time in the near future will play a big role in their eventual breakup.

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A big stretch of shows for WWE culminates with Backlash on Sunday, and the pay-per-view figures to set the direction of Raw and SmackDown for the rest of the summer.

There are seven matches scheduled, headlined by Edge vs. Randy Orton in what is being billed as "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever". That's an unusual bit of marketing for a contest that hasn't taken place, but both men are very good in the ring and should be able to have a memorable fight.

Five championships will also be up for grabs, and Jeff Hardy is looking for revenge against Sheamus after The Celtic Warrior has repeatedly made references to Hardy's past issues with substance abuse.

WWE Backlash Card

Edge vs. Randy Orton

WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Bobby Lashley

Universal Championship: Braun Strowman (c) vs. The Miz and John Morrison

Raw Women's Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Nia Jax

Women's Tag Team Championship: Bayley and Sasha Banks (c) vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics

United States Championship: Apollo Crews (c) vs. Andrade

Sheamus vs. Jeff Hardy

Why Edge Must Win

The booking for the Edge-Orton feud has been backwards, starting with the fact that they went from a Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania to a straight wrestling match.

It's also baffling that Edge would continue to wrestle Orton after going over clean in the first matchup.

If we are to assume the feud ends at Backlash, The Rated R Superstar has to defeat The Viper again because splitting two matches doesn't do anything to help either superstar.

Edge's comeback has been one of the best things in WWE in 2020. He is consistently cutting the best promos on television, and though his in-ring work at WrestleMania showed signs of rust, that was to be expected in his first singles match since 2011.

Given the value Edge has to WWE as a feel-good story, he could challenge for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. Having him score a decisive victory over Orton makes the most sense.

Why Asuka Must Win

One month after Asuka won Money in the Bank and was awarded the Raw Women's Championship, with Becky Lynch taking time off after announcing her pregnancy, it unfortunately looks like WWE is setting her up to lose the title in her first pay-per-view defense.

Charlotte Flair scored a pinfall victory over Asuka on Raw, though that did come after Nia Jax distracted the Empress of Tomorrow.

This suggests Flair will be next in line to chase the championship, whether it be against Asuka or Jax.

The only argument for Jax to win the title is a program with Flair would be something new, but there's a low ceiling to the quality of match anyone is going to get out of Jax. Asuka is easily one of the best wrestlers on the WWE roster, male or female. She was finally put in a top position by the company in May after a successful tag title run with Kairi Sane.

Even though an Asuka-Flair feud isn't anything new—they have had singles matches on Raw in each of the past two weeks—their matches would be significantly better than what either one of them would get out of Jax.

Why Bayley and Sasha Banks Must Win

One hallmark of WWE booking is putting the Tag Team Championship on two superstars who are having issues getting along.

The formula is predictable, with cracks starting to show until one of them either turns on the other or causes a distraction so one of them gets rolled up and pinned.

Before Bayley and Sasha Banks defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross to win the women's tag titles on the June 6 edition of SmackDown, there were seeds of discontent growing between the two. Banks was taking credit for Bayley's success, while Bayley was costing her partner matches.

WWE has done countless start-stop teases of a Bayley-Banks feud for years, to the point it's almost a punchline when the two display any tension on television.

Rather than go into a Bayley vs. Banks singles feud, keeping the tag titles on them for the time being makes the most sense. They are easily the best of WWE's current women's tag teams, and having them on both shows will at least make for much better matches.

Plus, if WWE wants to have Banks challenge Bayley for the SmackDown women's title at SummerSlam, the breakup angle can be done at Extreme Rules in July.

Sunday's WWE Backlash pay-per-view is set to be headlined by a bout between Edge and Randy Orton that is being billed as the "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever," but there are several other matches on the card with big-time potential.

The WWE Championship match between Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley, the Raw Women's Championship contest between Asuka and Nia Jax and the clash between Jeff Hardy and Sheamus all have a strong chance to deliver as well.

As good as those bouts could be, the undercard has show-stealing potential, and it is possible some of the less-talked-about matches going into the event could leave the longest-lasting impression.

Sasha Banks and Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics

Fresh on the heels of beating Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships on SmackDown last week, Sasha Banks and Bayley will put the titles on the line at Backlash.

It was announced on Monday's Raw that the new champs will defend their titles against not only Bliss and Cross but also The IIconics, who have been involved in a feud with Bliss and Cross for the past few weeks.

Banks and Bayley may be the greatest women's tag team in WWE history, but the other teams in the match shouldn't be discounted. Bliss and Cross are two-time women's tag team champions, while The IIconics have held the titles before as well.

Billie Kay and Peyton Royce won a Fatal 4-Way tag team match at WrestleMania 35 last year to win the titles from Banks and Bayley, who held them entering the event. Bliss and Cross won them at this year's Show of Shows in a widely praised match against The Kabuki Warriors.

There is a great deal of talent across all three teams, plus they all have issues with each other, which should make for a heated and entertaining affair.

The Triple Threat nature of the match could make it chaotic, but all six Superstars are technically inclined, so there promises to be some great wrestling amid the havoc as well.

Banks and Bayley vs. Bliss and Cross vs. The IIconics could be a good fit as the show opener, and there is little doubt it would get the fans watching at home excited for the rest of the card if that is the case.

Apollo Crews vs. Andrade

Another Backlash match made official on Monday's Raw was a United States Championship rematch between Apollo Crews and Andrade.

Crews beat Andrade for the title on May 25, but El Idolo needed to earn a title shot nonetheless. He did that on Monday by defeating Kevin Owens and Angel Garza in a Triple Threat to become No. 1 contender.

Andrade and Crews have faced each other on a few occasions, and they always seem to have strong in-ring chemistry. They are two of the most athletically gifted Superstars WWE has to offer, so there is no telling what they could do at Backlash.

The match will arguably be the biggest of Crews' career to this point, as it will mark his first pay-per-view title defense. A strong performance is of the utmost importance for him if he wants to be viewed as one of the top babyfaces on the red brand.

Aside from the impressive physical feats that are likely to play out in Sunday's match, there is an intriguing side story that could have a significant impact on the result.

Andrade and Garza have been at odds lately despite the fact that they are both managed by Zelina Vega, and it carried over to Monday's Triple Threat. When Owens hit Garza with a Stunner, El Idolo took advantage by pinning his stablemate.

Both Vega and Garza may be at ringside Sunday, and if the latter costs Andrade the match—either inadvertently or on purpose—it could lead to big issues between them moving forward.

Braun Strowman vs. The Miz and John Morrison

Universal champion Braun Strowman isn't known for putting on great technical matches, so the expectations for his handicap match against The Miz and John Morrison aren't particularly high.

Also, with so much emphasis being placed on the Intercontinental Championship tournament and the tension between Banks and Bayley on SmackDown, it can be argued that the universal title has felt somewhat overshadowed.

That should change Sunday at Backlash since Strowman will have a chance to go up against one of the best tag teams WWE has to offer. Morrison is an elite-level athlete who can likely pull off some special spots in a match, while The Miz remains severely underrated as a worker in his own right.

Miz and Morrison should be able to do enough as a team to carry Strowman to a decent match, and they will be willing to bump and sell with all their might in order to make The Monster Among Men look good.

Strowman vs. The Miz and Morrison potentially being a show-stealing segment is only partially due to the in-ring work. Perhaps even more importantly, the possibility of "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt getting involved exists.

The Monster Among Men beat the Firefly Fun House version of Wyatt at Money in the Bank last month, and he hasn't been seen since. It seems likely The Fiend is gearing up to get revenge on the former Wyatt Family member, and there is a good chance that will happen Sunday at Backlash.

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When Bayley and Sasha Banks became the inaugural WWE women's tag team champions in February 2019, it appeared to be another historic moment for the promotion's women's division. With the pair heading into Backlash as champions again, the circumstances couldn't be much different.

Bayley and Banks captured the belt for a second time when they dethroned Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross on SmackDown last Friday.

WWE announced they would be putting the championships up for grabs Sunday at Backlash in a Triple Threat match against Bliss and Cross and The IIconics.

The path forward seems pretty clear.

This finally serves as the wedge that drives Bayley and The Legit Boss apart. They drop the titles at some point down the road, likely due to some miscommunication, which leads one to turn on the other and set up a major feud for the SmackDown Women's Championship.

The women's tag division, meanwhile, would largely be put on the back burner in service of the Bayley/Banks dynamic.

Perhaps WWE is looking to revive the tag team scene by positioning two of its biggest stars at the top. The creative team has used the same approach to elevate the United States and Intercontinental Championships at various points. For example, Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles are going to battle for the IC title on Friday.

The problem with that strategy is that WWE has never been able to provide any long-term momentum to its secondary titles. Once Alberto Del Rio beat John Cena at Hell in a Cell 2015, that largely ended the U.S. title's run of relevancy. All of the hard work The Miz did to elevate the intercontinental strap across 2016 and 2017 was also eventually undone.

Banks and Bayley can't be the champions forever, and when they are toppled, WWE may have done little to address the fundamental problems that have relegated a once promising distinction to obscurity.

The Women's Tag Team Championship isn't even two years old, so it's too soon to begin writing obituaries. The pool of female talent is deep enough to sustain a thriving tag division.

That's why WWE should be looking for another team to be the bellwether.

In general, continuing with Bayley and The Boss could prove counterproductive.

Bayley's status as the SmackDown champion means so much of what she and Banks do will be framed around that, with less attention devoted to the consequences toward their tag reign.

And she'll almost certainly have to defend the SmackDown title at Extreme Rules on July 19 and likely at SummerSlam on Aug. 23 as well. Assuming that's the case, Bayley and Banks putting the tag belts up for grabs might be out of equation at the next two pay-per-views.

One could sensibly argue the women's tag team championship didn't benefit much from when The IIconics or Bliss and Cross were the titleholders. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce's run was particularly underwhelming because they were rarely presented as a credible threat.

But the only way to make fans care about women's tag team wrestling is to actually invest in tag team wrestling. It's not going to be enough to simply pair two massive stars together, even if they have a deep shared history together.

Friday night's episode of SmackDown on Fox saw its ratings decrease despite Sasha Banks and Bayley winning the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships in the main event. 

According to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown averaged 1.935 million viewers during its two-hour broadcast, which was down from last week's 2.17 million. SmackDown also finished third on the night in the 18-49-year-old demographic with a 0.5 rating.

SmackDown was headlined by a Women's Tag Team title match pitting Sasha and Bayley against Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. Banks and Bayley won the match, making them two-time Women's Tag Team champions and marking the first time they have held the titles since WrestleMania 35 last year.

While Sasha and Bayley won, there were some obvious issues between them during the match, including a miscommunication that saw Bayley tag herself in and break up Sasha's signature Bank Statement finisher.

Banks and Bayley still won the match, making Bayley a double champion since she holds the SmackDown Women's title as well, but there is little doubt that there are some deeply rooted issues that will result in their breakup sometime in the near future.

Elsewhere on the show, Jeff Hardy spoke for the first time since he was arrested last week for allegedly hitting Elias with his car. Hardy noted that he was released by the police after passing several sobriety tests. He also said witnesses told police that someone with a red hair and beard was responsible for the hit-and-run.

Hardy called out Sheamus and they brawled, resulting in Sheamus laying Hardy out with a Brogue Kick. A match between them was then officially booked for Backlash.

Another significant moment saw Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles cut promos on each other ahead of next week's Intercontinental Championship match. Styles also agreed to have a match with Bryan's coach, Drew Gulak, who shockingly upset The Phenomenal One before his huge clash with Bryan.

Also, the team of New Day and Shorty G beat Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro and Mojo Rawley in a six-man tag team match, Lacey Evans beat Sonya Deville following a distraction caused by Mandy Rose, and Otis defeated King Corbin by disqualification.

Next week's SmackDown will feature the IC title bout between Bryan and Styles, and it will be the go-home episode prior to the Backlash pay-per-view.

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After beating Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships on Friday's episode of SmackDown, Sasha Banks and Bayley referenced negative rumors about them from after WrestleMania 35.

As seen in the following video (beginning at the 1:37 mark), Sasha and Bayley laid on the floor and pretended they were crying at one point during their championship photoshoot:

Their actions were in reference to a report by Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin last year. After Sasha and Bayley lost the WWE Women's Tag Team titles to The IIconics at WrestleMania 35, Satin reported that multiple sources said Sasha and Bayley were "laying on the floor of the locker room on Sunday, and back at the hotel in front of one of their rooms, loudly making it known they were unhappy about losing the tag titles."

Following that loss at WrestleMania 35, Banks took a few months off, while Bayley won Money in the Bank and then beat Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's title. Bayley dropped the title back to Charlotte, but she was able to regain it thanks to an attitude change brought on by Bayley aligning herself with a heel Sasha.

Since that time, Banks and Bayley have been the dominant forces in the SmackDown women's division. Bayley is in the midst of a title reign lasting well over 200 days, and Sasha has played a big role in helping her win many matches along the way.

The Boss and Bayley are now two-time WWE Women's Tag Team champions as well, meaning they are in possession of all the gold the women's division can accommodate on the blue brand.

Even though Sasha and Bayley won Friday, it is clear that WWE is continuing to build tension between them. At one point late in the match, Bayley tagged herself in while Sasha had her signature Bank Statement locked in. Bayley then pulled Banks out of the ring, which The Boss didn't take kindly to.

Sasha and Bayley still won the match, but there is little doubt their friendship is bound to disintegrate some time in the near future, and the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships could be the perfect catalyst to make it happen.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).