Sasha Banks seemingly won’t be returning to WWE after she and Naomi walked out in the middle of Raw back in May.
As previously reported, Banks is set to attend the Wrestle Kingdom 17 event in Tokyo Dome on January 4th, 2023. The talks between Banks and WWE to see her make a return had slowed down due to money.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that “The Boss” is done with WWE.
“Okay, there’s a lot to this one. I had talked with WWE about it and they basically had nothing to say as far as the situation. 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.”
Meltzer talked about WWE making talent wait out time that they missed despite being at the end of their deals.
“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.”
Meltzer said he doesn’t know how AEW fits in and whether she will be Saraya’s mystery partner on January 11th on AEW Dynamite.
“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.”
Meltzer added that WWE may give her the amount of money she’s looking for to prevent her from going to NJPW or AEW.
“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.”
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