Sasha Banks and Naomi’s sudden departure from this week’s Monday Night Raw caused the WWE to react in a number of ways last night. Not only did the company release a statement on the matter before the show was even over, but the commentary team repeatedly pointed out that the pair had left. Corey Graves went so far as to say the pair were “unprofessional” for their actions, prompting plenty of backlash online. Carmella then defended his husband on social media by heavily implying he was being forced to say that line by Vince McMahon.
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“Imagine still living in a world where you think he just says whatever he wants,” Carmella wrote while responding to a fan. “He does his job. Period.”
WWE’s statement on the situation read — “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. 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 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. We regret we were unable to deliver, as advertised, tonight’s main event.”
Numerous reports about the situation have since come out from Fightful Select, PWInsider and the Wrestling Observer. Apparantly, Naomi was initially booked to win a six-way match in Raw’s main event and would face Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship at Hell in a Cell while Banks would eventually wind up in a program with Rousey and wrestle for the SmackDown Women’s Championship on the same night. The pair took issue with how the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships were being used and had instead pitched to work a title match against Nikki ASH and Doudrop at the pay-per-view.
