As we’ve been reporting here on eWn, Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of last night’s WWE RAW TV tapings in Norfolk, VA after both women became frustrated over the creative direction of their tag team.
The original plan was for Naomi to win a Six-Pack Challenge match in the main event of RAW and would have then gone on to face Bianca Belair for the RAW Women’s Championship at Hell in a Cell. That match would have resulted in Naomi losing. Additionally, Sasha Banks was expected to face Ronda Rousey at Hell in the Cell and she was also planned to lose. So basically, the current WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions would have been booked to lose at Hell in a Cell.
The plan for last night’s RAW was for Sasha Banks and Naomi to celebrate Naomi’s win as the show was going off the air.
When Banks and Naomi arrived at RAW and found out about the creative plans, they weren’t happy and Banks demanded a meeting with Vince McMahon, which she received. Both Vince and Sasha refused to budge, which led to Banks leaving the meeting unhappy.
Another idea was pitched to have Banks and Naomi featured in a short tag team match on RAW, where they would’ve been subjected to a beat down to set up a new program. While the idea was nixed, their opponents were supposed to be Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop.
Just prior to WWE RAW going live, Banks and Naomi were told by WWE producer and Hall of Famer Molly Holly that WWE was moving forward with the Six-Pack Challenge Match. Either just as or just before the show went live on the USA Network, the two women went into John Laurinaitis’ office and placed their women’s tag team titles on his desk. They then told him they were leaving the building.
It’s worth noting that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was already sitting at the gorilla position when he was informed that Banks and Naomi had left the venue. WWE actually advertised the Six-Pack challenge at the very beginning of RAW so it appears they left right as the show went live.
WWE booked the backstage segments between Becky Lynch and Adam Pearce on the spot. One source said the segment was Lynch’s idea.
Following the Lynch-Pearce segment being pitched while the show was live on the air, McMahon ordered it to be filmed and placed into the show to explain the change after the Six-Pack Challenge had already been announced at the top of the show.
The current belief is that Banks and Naomi were concerned with how the two would be portrayed after the next several weeks. The two women have put in a lot of work building up their tag team and they were both going to be booked to lose at Hell in a Cell in an effort to put over Belair and Rousey.
Additionally, the plan was for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships to be downplayed until they were booked in their next tag team program after Hell in a Cell.
As of today, Sasha Banks and Naomi are still listed on WWE’s internal active roster. There is said to be a ton of heat on Sasha Banks.
While WWE’s statement said Naomi and Sasha Banks felt uncomfortable or unsafe working with two of the four women in the match, the two women they were concerned about did not know this until WWE released their statement.
Vince McMahon decided to reference the incident and was feeding lines to the commentary team throughout the night. Multiple sources are saying that he was not happy about the situation.
According to a report from Fightful, Petey Williams and Kenny Dykstra were the assigned producers for the Becky Lynch vs. Asuka match. There is no word on who would have been involved in producing the Six-Pack match if it wound up taking place.
It should be noted once again that this incident is not a work by any means.
Several sources noted that they don’t expect Sasha Banks and Naomi to be released but it remains to be seen where things go from here.
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