By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of Monday’s WWE Raw due to creative differences. Both wrestlers were scheduled to be in a Six Pack Challenge main event that was also scheduled to include Becky Lynch, Asuka, Doudrop, and Nikki ASH for a shot at the Raw Women’s Championship at the Hell in a Cell event. After the walkout, WWE opted to go with Asuka beating Lynch to earn the title shot.
WWE issued the following statement to ProWrestling.net regarding the matter on Monday night after Raw. “When Sasha Banks and Naomi arrived at the arena this afternoon, they were informed of their participation in the main event of tonight’s Monday Night Raw.
“During the broadcast, they 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.”
Powell’s POV: The situation played out awkwardly on television with the match Six Pack Challenge being advertised and then replaced by the singles match. The broadcast team stated that Banks and Naomi left the building, but they did not offer further details, nor was it explained why Doudrop and ASH were removed from the match. It’s worth noting that Naomi’s husband Jimmy Uso wrestled his advertised match with Riddle on Raw. I’m sure there will be plenty more to come regarding this story in the days ahead.
This could be a work. There have been rumors regarding possible heel turns for both Sasha Banks and Naomi and this is a very heelish diva like move.
For their own sake I hope it is a work. Naomi is no better than average and her title reign was a complete bust. She wouldn’t be missed. Sasha is very talented but she has walked out before so this is hardly new behavior
Maybe a year ago this was a “wrestler’s market” but Kahn has spent what he has (ask Fiend and Kross) for now so unless you want to take no money gigs in Impact or CYN the leverage is minimal
I don’t think it’s a work if wwe mentioned the rehearsal part in their statement. I think it’s time to let Sasha go
If neither one of them ever showed up again, I wouldn’t miss them.
Banks has become an egomaniac, so if this is legit, which it seems to be, I’m not surprised. Naomi I’m disappointed in, but I’m sure she’s just following along like a loyal puppy and I wonder what Sasha put into her head to get her to go along…..and I’m sure the race card will be played.
It better be a work. Sasha moves the needle a bit, but she’s not on TV enough to really matter. Naomi merely exists to have a cool looking intro and do a couple of impressive moves. If this was done for real, they’re dumber than I thought was possible.
Claiming they’ve been “disrespected” as champions make me think it’s a work,but it’s hard to tell.I’m a huge Sasha fan,but I do wonder about her ego sometimes so we’ll see..
Not respected? Your tag champions. Women tag champions at that and there are 2 others.
Seriously, have you not been paying attention the last 40 years? VKM hates tag team wrestling.
This screams work from a mile away. Think how often matches advertised for RAW get changed or dropped and there is never a peep or explanation for why. WWE literally went out of their way to tell us that Sasha and Naomi walked out when if they really did walk out, more than likely WWE would be trying to keep that close to the vest behind the scenes while they handle damage control. Mentioning them walking out set Twitter ablaze and in the last 24 hours have made the Womens Tag Team Championships more relevant than they have ever been. Now with the pot being stirred, for storyline purposes Roman can wield his power and his stroke and bring Naomi and Sasha to the Bloodline where they will get a huge push and add more gold to the Bloodline. This also makes me believe the Usos are going to go over against RKBro and the Bloodline will pretty much be able to show up wherever and whenever they want on RAW and Smackdown while they wield all of the gold and run the mens and womens divisions.