Sasha Banks will make her New Japan Pro-Wrestling debut at Wrestle Kingdom 17 next month. While she is not expected to wrestle, this will mark the first time “The Boss” appears in a wrestling ring since walking out on an episode of Monday Night Raw back in May alongside Naomi over backstage booking issues. The former Raw and SmackDown Women’s Champion is reportedly “done” with WWE at least for now, and an appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 17 could open up doors for her to work with other promotions.
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One such opportunity would be to have her join New Japan’s most popular international faction, The Bullet Club. It’s current leader, Jay White, will be in the main event of WK17 defending his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and he was recently asked in an interview with Fightful‘s Sean Ross Sapp about “The Boss” joining the group.
“She’s great. Big star…That would be another big thing that happened then, I guess,” White said after being told Banks would be at the show. “Everyone is wanting to come over and return to Wrestle Kingdom led by the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, huh? You got Kenny finally returning, maybe Sasha Banks, KAIRI coming back as well. I guess that would be cool. I haven’t met the woman myself, but if I do, I’ll say hello.”
“I think she would make a great Bullet Club member, hence why I said I would say hello,” he later added. Because New Japan has only recently started incorporating women’s matches into its pay-per-views via the Stardom promotion, women have been mostly absent from Bullet Club’s ranks. The only women who were affiliated with the group at any level were La Comandante, Amber Gallows, Brandi Rhodes and “Tokyo Latina” Pieter.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer gave an update on Banks’ status over the weekend — “She is going to the show, she will be on the show, she will not be wrestling on the show. She has dates booked with NJPW. In her deal, which I believe is not signed, she could still sign with WWE and this could all fall apart, but she has pretty much agreed to their terms. As far as they’re [NJPW] concerned, they have a deal.
“She is going to be making appearances for NJPW in 2023,” he later added. “Barring a last-minute change and her backing out on what she has agreed to, she’s not going back to WWE, but you cannot always rule that out. …That’s where it kind of all stands….but as of right now, she’s done with WWE. Like I said, it could change at any moment.”
