It looks like Sasha Banks’ (Mercedes Varnado) WWE non-compete might be a lot longer than 90 days, which means that fans hoping to see her in AEW would have to wait at least a year if she decides to continue wrestling.
As it was noted on Wednesday, Banks was announced for next month’s C2E2 convention in Chicago. Banks is being advertised under her real name and it’s a non-wrestling appearance.
Fightful reported that many wrestling conventions have reached out to her but they were told that she could not appear until 2023. Non-wrestling convention organizers were given a specific rate to book her while wrestling-related promoters were told that she wasn’t taking wrestling-related bookings until January 1.
WWE has not officially confirmed her release and there are conflicting reports on her status. While there were reports saying that she was released weeks ago, other reports state that although she’s no longer on the internal roster, she still has not been released from her contract.
It’s not clear if her decision not to accept wrestling bookings this year is a personal preference or because of what was agreed on by both parties. Nothing is confirmed unless one party speaks on the situation but it’s possible that the terms of her release stated that she would not be able to wrestle or work for any wrestling-related company until January.
It is also possible that Banks is technically but not officially released because she has to finish the days/weeks left on her suspension and whenever that ends, then there’s a standard 90-day non-compete attached. Again, nothing is confirmed until one or both sides comment but it doesn’t look like she has plans to wrestle this year.
