Report: Sasha Banks Met With Vince McMahon Recently, Could Return to WWE Soon
There have been a lot of rumors about Sasha Banks and her future in WWE. The last time we saw Banks on WWE television was at WrestleMania 35, which was nearly two months ago.
Since then, there were rumors that she tried to quit WWE. I don’t know if that’s true.
There was also a story that Banks and Bayley were so upset about losing the Women’s Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania that they were “laying on the floor and loudly making it known they were unhappy” at WWE’s hotel after WrestleMania. I don’t know if that’s true.
The cause of Banks’ unhappiness was because WWE put the Women’s Tag Team Titles on Banks and Bayley at the February Elimination Chamber PPV. The belief is that Banks and Bayley were told they would be given a significant run as Tag Team Champions and instead, they lost the titles in less than two months. That’s probably why Banks was mad, but I don’t know for sure.
The IIconics duo of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay, who have been the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions since WrestleMania, claimed they never saw any issues with Banks or Bayley. Here’s how they explained it to Express Sport two weeks ago.
Peyton Royce: “Immediately after the match we were all in tears, all crying. Just filled with emotion, we got pictures together which we then posted on our Instagram. I mean, I know there’s all these rumors going around and we didn’t see anything. Everyone was super happy and excited for us. The rumors to us is [that] we didn’t see anything that we’re hearing.”
Billie Kay: “Yeah, we don’t really pay attention to rumors or social media and all that kind of stuff in that aspect. We had a great experience with them and it holds a really special place in our hearts. You can find them [pictures], we’re all embracing each other.”
Banks also posted this happy photo on Instagram about a week after WrestleMania, which was taken after the WrestleMania title change.
Since WrestleMania, Bayley has received a monster push that included a move to Smackdown. Two weeks ago, Bayley won the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match and the Smackdown Women’s Title in the same night. They have mentioned Sasha’s name a few times during Bayley’s rise, but not that often.
There is some new news on Banks today. From the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer: “Sasha Banks and Vince McMahon had a meeting on 5/23. Things are said to be better and she could be back sometime this summer but nothing is official.”
That’s all we know for sure. Others may speculate about what it means and you may see other websites with clickbait headlines saying “Sasha Banks Definitely to Return to WWE this summer” but as you can see there, nothing is official right now.
TJR Thoughts: If you pay attention to what we post here at TJRWrestling on a regular basis, I did not post any of the Banks rumors because I question the sources. I think the story about Banks and Bayley on the floor complaining sounds ridiculous. Maybe it was sarcasm. Maybe it just one person walking by that happened to know some guy with a website and the problem about wrestling news on the internet is that when one rumor gets out there, people take it as fact.
I also have no idea if Banks asked for a WWE release. She might have, but I do know her husband Mikaze has worked for WWE for years as a costume designer and he was back working with the company at WrestleMania. If she was that mad, then maybe her husband would be mad and he would have quit his job, right? He didn’t, so again that makes me question those reports about Banks.
My belief during this entire situation is that Banks was just pissed off about losing the titles because she and Bayley fought so hard to convince Vince McMahon to develop those titles. When they did lose the titles, the first thing I wrote on Twitter was that I understood it because maybe WWE wanted to push Banks and Bayley as singles stars again. Guess what? Bayley has received a massive push since WrestleMania. The IIconics are more of a tag team pairing while Banks and Bayley are really just singles stars. I’d love to see Banks come back in a month or two as a heel because she was so great as a heel in NXT in 2014-15. That’s what I want to see from her again.
When will Banks return? We don’t know, but after the meeting with the boss Vince McMahon, hopefully we see her back in a WWE ring soon.