Sasha Banks Makes Surprising Return To SmackDown, Will Be In Royal Rumble

Despite reports that Sasha Banks would not be able to compete at the Royal Rumble due to injury, ‘The Boss’ returned and declared herself for the 30-woman bout.

Sasha Banks hasn’t competed since she sustained an injury during a live event in Fayetteville, North Carolina when she was competing against Charlotte Flair.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reported that Banks seemed to have hurt her left leg or knee during the match after taking a backbreaker. He said that Banks’ leg appeared to be awkwardly planted following the move and a referee immediately checked on her.

The match then went to its finish quicker than planned with only a few more moves before Flair landed Natural Selection on Banks to retain her title. Following the match, WWE officials were seen helping Banks to the backstage area.

Even though ‘The Boss’ tweeted that she was “good” the day after the incident, WWE later gave an update announcing she was indeed injured and would be out of action for 6-8 weeks, which would have meant that she would miss the Royal Rumble on January 29th.

However, on the pre-Rumble episode of SmackDown, Sasha Banks made her shocking return, coming face to face with Charlotte Flair and declaring that she was “ready to Rumble.”

.@SashaBanksWWE is BACK and ready for #RoyalRumble! 💪 #SmackDownpic.twitter.com/ipAyEVOow0

— WWE (@WWE) January 29, 2022

The return came after ‘The Queen’ declared that no one on the SmackDown roster was on her level, prompting the SmackDown women’s roster to come out and confront her.

However, Banks’ music hit to a huge ovation from the fans. The multi-time Women’s Champion looked on as the rest of the women brawled. After Charlotte delivered a boot to Aliyah and kicked her out of the ring, Sasha Banks finally entered to confronted her rival before kneeing her in the face and throwing her over the top rope.