Sasha Banks’ status with WWE has been a mystery ever since she and Naomi walked out of an episode of Monday Night Raw back in mid-May. News broke earlier this week that Banks would be present for New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 event next month, which raised even more questions. Dave Meltzer explained the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio, stating that Banks is effectively “done” with WWE right now, but that can change at any time. Even though WWE will have a presence at Wrestle Kingdom via The Good Brothers’ involvement, they reportedly had nothing to do with Banks being there.
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“I had talked with WWE about it and they basically had nothing to say as far as the situation,” Meltzer explained. “Obviously, we’d talked about this before. They [WWE] had been talking to both of them, but they had been talking to her [Banks] about a return and they were very far apart on money. That was the last that I had heard….What she was asking for was a very high number for a WWE woman wrestler, but if you look at the amount of money that WWE takes in, she would still be underpaid. Everyone from Roman Reigns to Brock Lesnar is underpaid…That was the last that I had heard. Now, her contract was set to expire at the end of the year. However, as we’ve seen with so many people, they could freeze the deal.”
“She is going to the show, she will be on the show, she will not be wrestling on the show,” he later added, finally giving some context to whether or not “The Boss” will be wrestling on Jan. 4. “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.”
Meltzer went on to say…”She is going to be making appearances for NJPW in 2023. 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.”
