Sasha Banks has reportedly been released by WWE.
Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc. is reporting Sasha Banks has been released and noted that it’s unclear whether she requested the release.
Update: Giri added more details on June 28, writing that Erika Schreiber, WWE’s Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Talent Relations, was the person who granted Banks’ release, and that it happened on June 10. In regards to the confusion surrounding the release not being announced, Giri said that there’s a rumor that WWE leadership is still trying to smooth things over with Banks.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful commented on Giri’s initial post about the release and stated that he has asked WWE about the situation, and they said they “hadn’t heard” that Banks had been let go. Dave Meltzer also reported that Banks and her lawyers were still working on getting her release but at the time of his reporting, the release had not been granted.
Sapp subsequently tweeted that after further investigation, he could not confirm the news; Banks is still on the WWE roster page, WWE representatives have not confirmed the release, talent relations hasn’t said anything, and no internal memos about the release have gone out.
We've been unable to confirm the Sasha Banks news as of yet.
She's on the roster page, WWE reps haven't confirmed, talent relations hasn't issued anything to talent, and no internal memos have gone out yet.
We'll keep digging to get an answer. If it happened, it's been quietly
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) June 16, 2022
Banks and Naomi, who were the reigning WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions at the time, walked out of the May 16 episode of WWE RAW. They were scheduled to compete in a Six-Pack Challenge match where the winner would earn a shot at the WWE RAW Women’s Championship at Hell in a Cell. Banks and Naomi left the show due to creative frustrations, and according to WWE’s official statement, they left their titles on WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis’ desk. On the live broadcast, the commentary team called their behavior unprofessional and stated that they let the WWE Universe down.
WWE subsequently stripped Banks and Naomi of the titles and suspended them indefinitely. Their merchandise has been removed from WWE Shop, and their suspensions are reportedly without pay. Banks has yet to publicly comment on the situation. She hasn’t wrestled on WWE TV since the May 13 episode of SmackDown, when she and Naomi retained the titles against Shayna Baszler and Natalya.
Banks signed with WWE in 2012 and made her debut on the main roster in 2015. She is a former NXT Women’s Champion, a five-time RAW Women’s Champion, a one-time SmackDown Women’s Champion, and a three-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion. She is WWE’s third Women’s Grand Slam Champion, and she won the Slammy Award for Female Superstar of the Year in 2020. In 2021, her historic main event match with Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 37 won the ESPY Award for Best WWE Moment.
Outside of WWE, she has expressed her interest in getting into acting; Banks has already appeared in two episodes of The Mandalorian as Koska Reeves.
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