On Monday, May 16th, news broke that Sasha Banks and Naomi, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions at the time, walked on Monday Night Raw. In the eight days since, there have been many stories, rumors, and thoughts that have been shared on what may have gone down to cause such a wild turn of events. Both sides, WWE, as well as Sasha and Naomi, have their side of the story (though we have not heard from the two superstars directly since the incident occurred), but there is a lot of one-sidedness to the stories that come out.
Rather than continuing to look at these possibilities from a biased standpoint, I would like to simply lay out what we know, what we’ve heard, and what the possibilities are without adding any of my personal opinions to the conversation. This will hopefully serve to allow everyone a chance to form a valid argument for themselves about the matter as we await more information to hopefully come forth regarding the craziness that has taken place.
So, it begins on the night of May 16th, 2022. Monday Night Raw emanated from the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, the same arena where D-X invaded WCW during the Attitude Era. The show was meant to have a 6-Pack Challenge main event to determine the number one contender to Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Championship. Sasha Banks, Naomi, Nikki A.S.H., Doudrop, Becky Lynch, and Asuka were set to do battle. That is when news broke around the beginning of the broadcast that Naomi and Sasha Banks had walked out of the building and were not coming back. This began a whirlwind of speculation as to what may have caused two of WWE’s most popular superstars to up and leave out of nowhere.
Things got even dicier when Corey Graves announced live on air that this had taken place in a rather inauspicious way if doing so. This was something that was mirrored in a nearly minute-long update on Friday Night Smackdown a few nights later by Michael Cole, albeit in a much more planned and direct manner to show WWE’s displeasure. The biggest shock of all, though, was when WWE released a statement regarding the matter on their social media platforms, stating, “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 being respected as tag team champions…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…” There is a lot to unpack here, and there is not much that can be said about this other than it is somewhat unprecedented.
In 2002, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin walked out of Raw similarly and received equally negative treatment on-screen by the likes of Jim Ross, The Rock, and Mr. McMahon. Those comments felt very forced and like they were read straight from a teleprompter then, and Michael Cole’s comments held similar weight.
A public statement on social media was a very new step for WWE, though, and it remains something nobody ever thought would happen. Even when CM Punk walked out in 2014, silence was the response to Punk’s actions; it was not broadcasted to the world. Subtle jabs being what they may, Punk’s absence was primarily ignored rather than addressed. So far, WWE has not taken the same course of action with Sasha Banks and Naomi.
Besides the mentions of this turn of events on TV and on social media, WWE made some relatively swift decisions regarding the two. However, WWE still employs them at the time of writing (firing has been a rumor, but nothing legitimate has come forward yet). The pair were stripped of the Women’s Tag Team Championship, they were indefinitely suspended, and they were removed from the introduction video package WWE plays before every show. Indeed, they have been cast out of WWE for this moment in time.
Now, what comes from here is merely speculation, NOT factual by any means. Everything prior has been what has been done: WWE’s statements, WWE’s reaction, and initial consequences, and the fact they left in the first place.
From here, I will list some of the many rumors that have been spread regarding their reasoning for leaving Raw 8 nights ago. The first goes in line with a piece of WWE’s statement: that they felt they weren’t respected as tag team champions. An oft-criticized part of WWE and their women’s tag division is that it does not seem to matter to them. There was worry about this possibility from the very beginning, and it did not take long for it to manifest itself. Of all the teams to hold the titles since their inception a little more than three years ago, more than half can be considered “make-shift” tag teams. Teams like Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax, Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H., Carmella and Queen Zelina, Asuka and Charlotte Flair, Natalya and Tamina, and even Sasha and Naomi themselves. That leaves only four teams to hold the titles that were actually an established duo well before the titles were given to them. Plus, teams like the Riott Squad, Fire N’Desire, and Nia Jax and Tamina (all teams who fall into the well-established category) never held the gold. So, Naomi and Sasha could finally try to stand up for the titles to give them some meaning. There was also word that the titles had no plans to be defended or involved in any storylines until well after Hell in a Cell in June. Also, Naomi was allegedly supposed to win the original 6-Pack Challenge to face Bianca Belair, while Sasha would have faced Ronda Rousey at Hell in a Cell, with both current champions going over the respective halves of the tag champs that night. So, if that is the case, maybe Sasha and Naomi did not want to do the job when it could further hurt the tag titles, their reign, or their stock.
Another part of WWE’s statement is that they had issues with other participants in the match they were initially supposed to participate in. The person many have focused that story on is none other than Becky Lynch. Since Becky’s return last summer, this has been something she has been allegedly dealing with backstage (remember the controversy surrounding her match with Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series). Maybe Sasha and/or Naomi did not want to work with Becky or possibly some of the other 3 participants. Sasha and Naomi were also supposedly being promised a prominent feud for each of them to have payoffs at Wrestlemania earlier this year. Still, they saw plans change for the likes of Ronda Rousey, among others. It could very well be possible that their frustrations from major singles matches at Wrestlemania being changed to a short and rather forgettable multi-team tag match at the grandest stage of them all could be boiling over now.
From WWE’s perspective, they are no strangers to people walking out on them (see Stone Cold and CM Punk from earlier), but something about this one looks pretty personal. From their side of things, it seems they hold to it that Vince McMahon actually tried to work with Sasha and Naomi at first to appease their dissatisfaction with the booking they had, only to reach his limit and stop trying altogether since they persisted further.
This is an account that has been seen in other scenarios over the years, but it is not for sure in this case. They also do not like it when talent walk out when they have plans for them, as it does put them in a tough spot not to be able to put forth the advertised main event as planned. Now, there was word from some that claimed Sasha and Naomi’s walkout occurred well before the show began and not while it was in progress as was initially stated by WWE. Again, it is merely a rumor, but WWE is no stranger to promoting a match with no intention of happening as planned. That has been proven many times as way back as the 90s and probably even before that. This still allows drawing in viewership based on the merit of an enticing matchup that really can’t or won’t happen for whatever reason. They very well could have continued advertising Sasha and Naomi on TV at first despite knowing they had already left, as announced later. Or, maybe their story leans more toward the truth, and they fed the commentary team with words mid-broadcast, prompting Corey Graves to say what he did. Without both sides of the story, nor the actual truth of the matter, that cannot be for sure at this time.
There will be even more rumors and stories than the ones listed here, some that could be very possible and some that may even be so far from the truth. The only thing that is certain right now is that this is a bad look for all involved. For Naomi, for Sasha Banks, and for WWE. Without knowing who did or said what, what really happened or how things went down, hearsay is all that people have, and it can allow for all three parties to get a bad reputation from all different sides of fans’ takes on the matter. The only opinion of my own that I will share here is that I want to see this be resolved and for everyone to be able to move forward from this in some sort of a positive and less drama-filled light. The rest I will leave to them to let us know, whenever that may be.
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