Why WWE Star’s Shocking Walkout Was “The Wrong Thing To Do”

A walkout by a WWE star has been blasted by a producer in the company.

In May 2022, Sasha Banks and Naomi were the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, but behind the scenes, trouble was brewing. The pair ended up walking out of a live Raw show, forcing WWE to make a major change to a planned match and supposedly left their title belts with then-Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis.

WWE made the rare step of mentioning this on-screen, shaming the two stars publicly and announcing their suspension. Both Naomi and Banks ultimately left the company, with Banks going on to become Mercedes Mone in NJPW and later AEW, and Naomi becoming Trinity in TNA.

In TNA, Trinity captured the Knockouts Title before she ultimately made her peace with WWE and returned to the company in 2024.

Michael Hayes Not Happy With Naomi’s WWE Walkout

Speaking on the second episode of season two of WWE Unreal, producer Michael Hayes explained why the walkout left him shocked and noted it was simply the wrong thing to do:

I was very surprised and shocked that Trin decided to get up and walk out. That’s the wrong thing to do. That’s just the wrong thing to do. You work the show, and you work the show not because you don’t want to then. It’s for down the line when things cool off. and you go ‘phew. Glad I really didn’t burn that bridge’. [h/t Fightful]

Naomi gave her own take on the situation in the same episode. Long-time wrestling fans will recall that Michael Hayes and the Fabulous Freebirds were let go from their run in WWE in the mid-eighties after their unprofessional antics upset André The Giant.