The Sasha Banks and Naomi saga continues. Following reports earlier this week that the former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions have been removed from WWE’s internal roster, the two have removed all references to World Wrestling Entertainment from their Instagram pages, replacing that text with “Professional Wrestler.” Now, Naomi has made her first public comment since this news surfaced, sharing a cryptic image to her Twitter. “BUILT, not bought. EARNED, not given,” the photo reads. “HUSTLED, not handed. RARE, not average!” This is just Naomi’s third tweet in the past two weeks. Her two previous tweets shared love to Liv Morgan and Claudio Castagnoli, following their big moments at WWE Money in the Bank and AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, respectively.
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This past Thursday, PWInsder reported neither Banks nor Naomi are listed on WWE’s internal roster, and that Banks could begin entertaining “some signings outside of WWE” in the coming months. Fightful Select updated this story, noting that Banks and Naomi have been off of WWE’s internal roster for “weeks.” They also added that while no one working for WWE’s official website were told to remove the women from the active roster page online, WWE Creative has been operating on the assumption that neither woman is coming back to television any time soon. Despite things remaining unconfirmed, “several high-level talents” in the company believe Banks has been gone from WWE as far back as last month, confirming the initial report from Raj Giri.
Banks and Naomi were stripped of their tag titles and indefinitely suspended without pay from WWE following a walkout before the May 16 edition of Monday Night RAW. On that show, the two women were scheduled to compete in a six-women Number 1 Contender’s match, with the winner going on to face RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair at WWE Hell in a Cell. Naomi was apparently scheduled to win that RAW match and go on to challenge Belair. Banks and Naomi’s frustrations stem from WWE’s lack of commitment to the women’s tag team division, and how a number of their pitches to build the division were dismissed.
“When Sasha Banks and Naomi arrived at the arena this afternoon, they were informed of their participation in the main event of tonight’s Monday Night Raw. 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 respected enough as tag team champions,” WWE’s May 16 statement on the situation read. “And even though they had eight hours to rehearse and construct their match, 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. Monday Night Raw is a scripted live TV show, whose characters are expected to perform the requirements of their contract.”
WWE initially announced a tournament to crown new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, but nothing has developed since.
Stay tuned for updates on Banks and Naomi’s pro wrestling futures.
