Sasha Banks

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

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WWE's Reported Behind-the-Scenes Reaction to Banks, Naomi

Multiple reports have surfaced after WWE women's tag team champions Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out during Monday night's episode of Raw.

Sasha and Naomi were supposed to be part of a six-pack challenge against Asuka, Becky Lynch, Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H. with the winner going on to challenge Bianca Belair for the Raw Women's Championship at Hell in a Cell.

Instead, WWE went with a singles match between Asuka and Lynch, which Asuka won after spraying green mist in Big Time Becks' face.

Amid reports that Banks and Naomi walking out prompted the change to Raw's main event, WWE confirmed as much with the following statement:

Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out on tonight’s Raw after Banks had issues with “creative ideas pitched,” per @PWInsidercom

WWE issued a statement afterwards pic.twitter.com/c7PZc3K4KL

— B/R Wrestling (@BRWrestling) May 17, 2022

In the statement, WWE claimed that Sasha and Naomi were uncomfortable working with two of the women in the match and walked out because of their belief that they weren't being respected as tag champs.

During the broadcast, Raw commentator Corey Graves referred to the walkout as "unprofessional" in what was likely a line fed to him by higher-ups.

One of the latest reports with regard to Sasha and Naomi came courtesy of PWTorch's Wade Keller (h/t Paul Davis of WrestlingNews.co), who provided some insight into how those in WWE reacted to the incident.

Per Keller, the people within WWE he spoke to were "puzzled" by the conduct of Banks and Naomi and felt Sasha was "overreacting to a normal day at work."

Keller added that there is "not a ton of instant sympathy" for Banks and Naomi by others in WWE, and the prevailing thought is "where did that come from and how did they get themselves so worked up over this?"

In terms of specifics regarding why Sasha and Naomi walked out, Fightful Select (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News) reported that Naomi was supposed to win the six-pack challenge and face Belair at Hell in a Cell.

That reportedly led to Banks and Naomi expressing concern over the direction of the women's tag team division, as they wanted to face Doudrop and Nikki in a tag title match at Hell in a Cell instead.

When WWE's decision-makers disagreed, that is reportedly when Banks and Naomi decided to walk out rather than going through with the plan.

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Rey, Dominik Mysterio Split Reportedly Planned

WWE has reportedly informed Rey and Dominik Mysterio that it intends to split them up in the future.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Davis), WWE recently told the Mysterios that the plan moving forward is for Dominik to be on his own.

Meltzer noted that WWE told Rey and Dominik of the plan at around the same time they were booked in injury angles against Veer Mahaan in recent weeks.

Both Rey and Dominik were written off the show for a few weeks before returning on Monday night's episode of Raw to save Mustafa Ali from an attack at the hands of Veer.

The Mysterios worked together, so WWE still hasn't put any split plans into action.

Meltzer said WWE had told Rey and Dominik in the past that they were going to be split up only to reverse course, noting that a split had been teased "three or four times" before.

Rey and Dominik became the first father-son tag team champions in WWE history when they won the SmackDown Tag Team Championships last year, and they have been a team for essentially Dominik's entire tenure with the company.

While keeping Dominik with Rey essentially ensures that Dominik gets a positive reaction, it may also be capping what he can do individually.

A Dominik heel turn and eventual match with Rey may be precisely what Dominik needs to reach the next level on his own, although there would be some risk on WWE's part in doing that if the WWE Universe doesn't embrace the rivalry.

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Strowman vs. Overeem Advertised for Independent Show

A former WWE world champion and UFC star are scheduled to headline an independent wrestling show next month.

According to Fightful's Jeremy Lambert, World Entertainment Series is advertising a main event of Adam "Braun Strowman" Scherr against Alistair Overeem for a June 4 event in Nottingham, England.

World Entertainment Series is a promotion founded by former WWE tag team AOP, who are currently going by the name Legion of Pain.

While he currently wrestles under his real name, Scherr is best known to wrestling fans as Braun Strowman thanks to his six-year run on WWE's main roster.

Strowman was a dominant force during his time in WWE and even held the Universal Championship once, but WWE shockingly released him in June 2021.

Overeem, 42, is an MMA veteran who fought under the UFC banner from 2011 to 2021.

He famously beat Brock Lesnar in his UFC debut and went on to score wins over several other big-name heavyweights, including Junior dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum and Alexey Oleynik.

While Overeem never won a title in UFC, he was the inaugural Strikeforce heavyweight champion and posted a career professional record of 47-19 with one no contest.

Since Overeem was born in London, a wrestling card with him as a headliner in England figures to generate a ton of interest.

Additionally, AOP have booked several other former WWE talents on the show, including Nia Jax, Lana, Karrion Kross, Bronson Reed, Kalisto, Lince Dorado, Mojo Rawley and Fandango, among others.

Those interested in the event will be able to watch it streaming live on FITE TV.

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

WWE women's tag team champions Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of Raw on Monday night, dissatisfied with creative plans not only for the show but generally for the titles and the tag division themselves, according to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select.

Originally slated for a six-woman gauntlet match to determine the top contender for Bianca Belair's Raw Women's Championship at Hell in a Cell, they reportedly took exception to the layout of the match and the lack of forethought put into the women's tag team division.

It is hardly the first time talent has walked out of WWE over a dispute with management, be it related to creative differences or something else. There is absolutely a precedent for it, but this one still feels different, perhaps due to the speed with which WWE released a statement and the media attention the walkout has received.

     

A History of Disgruntled Superstars

In 2002, WWE Creative booked a King of the Ring qualifying match for the June 10 episode of Raw pitting "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Brock Lesnar. If you are thinking to yourself, "that's a dream match; a WrestleMania main event," you are correct. 

Austin recognized as much and took exception to the writing team booking that match with no build and no anticipation. He balked at the idea of it being given away for free and, more importantly, Lesnar beating him on a whim. Stars like Stone Cold do not come around every day, and wasting him in a throwaway match with Lesnar that should have been properly built for a pay-per-view payoff made no sense.

So he left. Walked out or, in the words of Vince McMahon, "took his ball and went home."

Some 12 years later, CM Punk followed suit. While creative frustration over his role at WrestleMania 30 certainly played a part in it, a battered body and mind led to a very public, high-profile divorce from WWE that included a controversial podcast appearance, a lawsuit and Punk being released from his contract on his wedding day.

WWE is not the only company to have disgruntled stars walk out on them.

In 1999, Raven stood up in the middle of a meeting and walked out of WCW, disenfranchised with its impenetrable glass ceiling. A few months later, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko forced the company to grant them releases over frustration with their lack of opportunity and distrust of booker Kevin Sullivan.

In every instance, the performer(s) stood their ground and left when their opinions or viewpoints were not respected or heard by management. All were also high-profile figures in professional wrestling, regardless of where they may have found themselves on the card at the moment.

Austin came back. Punk did not. Raven went on to stints in both ECW and WWE, while Benoit and Guerrero would win world titles in Vince McMahon's company, a feat they never accomplished in their former place of employment.

     

Where Do Banks and Naomi Go From Here?

Walking out in protest over creative differences draws a definitive line in the sand. It is a declaration of independence, one that suggests to management that you are willing to fight for your beliefs and that you are very well aware of your worth. 

Banks is a star beyond the wrestling world. She is mainstream, thanks to her role on the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian, an appearance in the opening video for the 2022 college football national championship game, an episode of Hot Ones and, most recently, an appearance on Cold As Balls with Kevin Hart.

She also knows her value to the company and believes in herself in a way she may not have previously, telling the aforementioned Austin on an episode of The Broken Sull Sessions:

"I'm done with the thankful. I'm done with the pizza. I don't need that anymore. I eat steak. Like Vince McMahon. With vegetables. Like him, because I can be that. And that's where I'm at. I'm not, 'can I please be signed?' I'm here. I'm signed, I've been here. I've put in the work and if I see myself where I want to see myself, I'm at Vince McMahon's level."

Sasha Banks tried to warn us all. #WWERaw https://t.co/es3vgeyayz

— ChanMan (@ChandranTheMan) May 17, 2022

Naomi is no stranger to the creative ups and downs of WWE, either. As someone who has been on the main roster for a decade, she has seen pushes ignite and disintegrate in a matter of weeks. She has seen her role on the show enhanced, only for it to be deemphasized later.

While WWE's version is currently the only official retelling of the reasons behind the walkout, Sapp's report, coupled with PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson's, zero in on creative frustration. If that is the case, WWE officials are going to have to have to show some sort of goodwill gesture, most likely in the form of genuine plans for the tag team division, to bring Banks and Naomi back in the fold.

Even that may not be enough.

WWE has coerced disgruntled or disappointed talent back into the fold, only for things to return to what they were. Banks and Naomi may be looking for something more concrete than creative plans. Maybe they want the ear of the boss. Perhaps they want certain guarantees that the tag team they worked hard to develop in hopes of elevating a subpar tag division will not be sacrificed in the name of enhancing stars who are already over with fans.

Maybe nothing can be done. Maybe the relationship is too fractured. 

That will not stop WWE officials from bringing the tag champs back. They have to recognize how valuable they both are, Banks as a breakout mainstream star and Naomi as a locker room leader. The company's rush to release a defensive statement that varied from what is being reported elsewhere, though, will make it more difficult. 

Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out on tonight’s Raw after Banks had issues with “creative ideas pitched,” per @PWInsidercom

WWE issued a statement afterwards pic.twitter.com/c7PZc3K4KL

— B/R Wrestling (@BRWrestling) May 17, 2022

The mainstream media attention this situation has received creates a different feel to prior circumstances. Perhaps the company's immediate jump on the story was in hopes of painting the performers as malcontents or egotistical. We have seen reactionary statements from the company before, but not as quickly and publicly as this.

That will not make it easier to solve the problems. 

Still, it does not feel like Banks and Naomi are finished with the company. Frustration happens, and every so often, stars walk to make a point. Companies defend themselves through PR. One can only hope the two sides work things out and the two immensely talented performers can get back to entertaining the masses and further establishing their legacies.

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

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Latest Details on Sasha Banks and Naomi Leaving Raw

Sasha Banks and Naomi were scheduled to take part in Raw's main event on Monday night alongside Becky Lynch, Asuka, Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H. The six-pack challenge was slated to determine the No. 1 contender for Bianca Belair's Raw Women's Championship.

Instead, the bout was changed to a singles match between Lynch and Asuka, with Asuka picking up the victory to earn the match against Belair at Hell in a Cell on June 5.

WWE then took the extraordinary step of providing behind-the-scenes details about why it couldn't deliver the promoted main event. In the statement, the company said Banks and Naomi "walked into WWE head of talent relations John Laurinaitis' office with their suitcases in hand, placed their tag team championship belts on his desk and walked out":

They claimed they weren't respected enough as tag team champions. And even though they had eight hours to rehearse and construct their match, they claimed they were uncomfortable in the ring with two of their opponents even though they'd had matches with those individuals in the past with no consequence. Monday Night Raw is a scripted live TV show, whose characters are expected to perform the requirements of their contract. We regret we were unable to deliver, as advertised, tonight's main event.

Fightful Select reported the women's tag team champions expressed concern about the direction of the division after multiple ideas they pitched were turned down, and the duo also denied they raised concern about "unsafe" opponents.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio added Banks is now facing "a lot" of backstage heat following the walkout. Naomi's status wasn't mentioned.

Given the nature of WWE's statement and the subsequent reporting, it's unlikely the situation is a work. There's still a lot of uncertainty about what actually sparked the walkout, though.

It creates a lot of intrigue moving toward SmackDown on Friday night, though the company could provide more details about the state of the women's tag division before that point.

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Money in the Bank Cash-In Option Expected To Stay; Vince McMahon's Role

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPeQPHQCavY?

Questions were raised about the future of the Money in the Bank contract after Cody Rhodes mentioned in a promo video the winners "will win the chance to main event WrestleMania."

The MITB contract has long featured a cash-in option, giving the holders a chance to receive their title shot anytime, anywhere at a moment's notice. While that included WrestleMania, it hadn't previously guaranteed a place in the Mania main event.

H. Jenkins of Ringside News reported the MITB stipulations are expected to remain the same as past years and Rhodes' comment in the commercial was a "major source of confusion with writers and producers."

Meltzer noted that Rhodes' remark was added to the script by Vince McMahon, but the reasoning is unclear since the creative team was told no changes are being made to the MITB contract.

The cash-in element is a major part of what's made the MITB idea such a long-term success, so it would be a surprise if that's removed for a single WrestleMania title shot, especially since there's nine months between the two PPV shows.

For now, it appears McMahon was merely working with semantics since technically anyone has the "chance to main event WrestleMania" and it seems there's no significant changes on the horizon for either the men's or women's contract.

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Rhodes Considers Himself the Best in the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2VQrxbexH8?

Rhodes returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38 in April after a six-year hiatus that included stops with various promotions, including working as both a wrestler and executive for AEW.

He's received a significant push since his return, picking up back-to-back PPV victories over Seth Rollins and getting plenty of air time on Raw to push the "American Nightmare" gimmick.

While Roman Reigns' dominant run as the Universal champion combined with his WrestleMania win over WWE champion Brock Lesnar to unify the company's top belts has made him a popular choice as the best wrestler in the world, Rhodes believes he's the one who deserves that distinction.

He also told Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated it's not necessarily a close competition.

"I think I'm the best wrestler in the world. And I think it's by a large margin," Rhodes said. "That upsets a lot of people, but I don't mean it to draw ire. This is all I do. I'm not in charge. I'm here to hone my craft, build my body and win matches. Every week, I have to be better. That's the ultimate clarity for me."

Rhodes has definitely upped his game since he departed WWE in 2016. The fan support since his return suggests he's due for a major title run in the near future.

As for Reigns, the former two-time intercontinental champion said questions about who's actually better can't be answered until they face off.

"The difference between the two best wrestlers in the world is that one has both titles to prove it," Rhodes told Barrasso. "The WWE championship is the biggest title in the game. That's never been in dispute, and that's not a knock on any title anywhere else. The way to define the best in the world is the one holding the belt, and that's Roman Reigns."

So far, WWE has resisted the urge to use Rhodes' momentum since his return to throw him into a feud with Reigns, but it seems like only a matter of that before that storyline arrives.

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

During this week's episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE women's tag team champions Sasha Banks and Naomi reportedly walked out of the show over creative differences, causing the planned main event to be changed.

WWE issued a statement regarding Banks and Naomi leaving the show, saying they "claimed they weren't respected enough as tag team champions."

Official statement from WWE to ⁦@Joe_Staszewski⁩ ⁦@nypostsports⁩ pic.twitter.com/PvAOf59Itx

— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) May 17, 2022

Originally, a six-pack challenge was planned for the main event featuring Banks, Naomi, Asuka, Becky Lynch, Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H to determine a No. 1 contender for Raw women's champion Bianca Belair. The match was then changed to a one-on-one match between Lynch and Asuka, which Asuka won.

The commentary team referenced Banks and Naomi's walkout during the broadcast.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reported that Banks had a meeting with WWE chairman Vince McMahon after she "took issue with some of the planned creative for the original main event."

Naomi was scheduled to win the original main event, according to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful. Even though their reasons won't be clear until they address the situation themselves, Banks and Naomi still had a ton of support from fans online:

Hey, if Sasha and Naomi felt like dipping, i ain’t mad at them. Those two give a lot. I ain’t gonna judge.

— Kazeem Famuyide 🇳🇬 🍎 (@Kazeem) May 17, 2022

Sasha Banks and Naomi are incredible, star talents regardless of whether that's in WWE or elsewhere.

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) May 17, 2022

https://twitter.com/DavidDTSS/status/1526393741325520896

This isn't the first time backstage drama made its way on air in WWE. This past November, Lynch was in a feud with former SmackDown women's champion Charlotte Flair. The two former real-life friends had a notable segment on SmackDown Live in which they had a contentious exchange of title belts that didn't play out as originally scripted.

Throughout her career, Banks has not been shy about voicing her displeasure when necessary. She once revealed that she requested to be released from WWE after WrestleMania 35, but McMahon advised her to take some time off. Banks is one of WWE's most popular stars, so it will be interesting to see how this latest situation unfolds.

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

During this week's episode of Monday Night Raw, the opponents for WWE women's tag team champions Queen Zelina and Carmella at WrestleMania 38 were revealed.

The company announced that Zelina and Carmella will defend their titles against SmackDown superstars Sasha Banks and Naomi during the two-night event on April 2-3.

Zelina and Carmella have held the women's tag team titles since November when they defeated Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. Since then, they've defended their belts just one time in early January in a rematch against the former titleholders.  

Naomi and Banks put out a challenge to Carmella and Zelina during last Friday's episode of SmackDown Live and the champions accepted on Monday. Banks and Naomi were formerly aligned as members of Team B.A.D. when Banks joined WWE's main roster in 2015. 

Banks is already a two-time tag team champion. Alongside Bayley, she was part of the first team to win the women's tag titles when they were introduced in 2019. Banks is also a six-time women's champion, winning the Raw title five times and the SmackDown belt once.

Naomi is a two-time SmackDown women's champion, but she hasn't held a title since 2017. She was previously involved in a long-term rivalry with Sonya Deville.

WrestleMania 38 will be held in Dallas. The other known matches so far are the Raw women's title match between Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair, the SmackDown women's title match between Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey, and a "title vs. title" match between WWE champion Brock Lesnar and universal champion Roman Reigns.