New details have been revealed on what happened with WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out of Monday night’s RAW at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
As PWMania.com previously reported, there was a situation that saw Banks and Naomi leave last night’s RAW, reportedly not happy with creative plans for the main event to determine the new #1 contender to RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair. Naomi was reportedly planned to win the Six-Pack Challenge, but it was changed to Asuka vs. Becky Lynch when Banks and Naomi walked out following Banks’ meeting with WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon. WWE issued a statement to the media on last night’s walk-out, but also posted the statement to their website as they would with any storyline news, which is unusual as WWE usually stays quiet on legitimate backstage issues. You can click here for our latest backstage report with full details on what happened last night and reactions to the WWE statement, you can click here for the initial report on WWE’s statement to the media, and you can click here for the original report on Banks and Naomi leaving RAW. You can also click here for a recent report on a person close to Naomi revealing details on what led to the incident. PWMania.com also has a report about WWE’s plan for Ronda Rousey to defeat Banks at this link and a report on the backstage reaction to the pair walking out on RAW at this link.
In an update, PWInsider has revealed new details on what happened and what led to last night’s RAW. It was noted that despite other reports, the original finish for the Six-Pack Challenge had Banks and Naomi facing off, with Naomi defeating Banks to end the match and become the new #1 contender to Belair.
The original plan for RAW was to have Banks and Naomi featured in two or three segments to build up the idea that they would be facing off in the Six-Pack Challenge main event. RAW would have then gone on the air with Banks and Naomi celebrating the fact that Naomi was going to challenge Belair at Hell In a Cell.
The conceived storyline was that Naomi would then go to Hell In a Cell and lose to Belair. There are some within WWE who believe that Friday’s SmackDown would have featured an angle for Banks to wrestle and lose to SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, also likely at Hell In a Cell.
These plans show that effectively, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions would have been used to put over the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Champions.
It was also noted that at some point during Monday, likely after the initial concerns over creative were raised, there was an alternative idea that would’ve had Banks and Naomi competing in a short tag team match instead, and do a beat-down angle after the match to set up a different feud. One source said their opponents would’ve been Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H., and while that is not 100%, it is in line with another previous report.
Shortly before RAW began, WWE Hall of Famer & Producer Molly Holly reportedly informed Banks and Naomi that officials were going with the Six-Pack Challenge, with Naomi going over. It was shortly after this when Banks and Naomi informed WWE Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis that they were leaving the show, and that’s when they reportedly left their title belts in his office.
Vince, who was sitting backstage at the Gorilla Position, was reportedly told about Banks and Naomi leaving just as or right after RAW went off the air. The backstage RAW segment with Lynch and Adam Pearce, which was done to set up the Lynch vs. Asuka main event, was reportedly pitched on the spot, and one source credited Lynch with the idea. McMahon ordered the segment to be shot and then placed into the show to start explaining the main event change to the by-now-announced Six-Pack Challenge RAW main event.
There’s a belief among some that the creative issue was not with Banks losing to Naomi, but how the duo would’ve been portrayed over the next several weeks, especially after they put so much time into building their team up once Vince issued an edict that they would be teaming and winning the titles at WrestleMania 38, and that after diving into building that team up they were going to wrestle each other and go off to put over other talents, leaving them, exactly where no one knows, which apparently was the crux of the issue. The WWE plan looks to have been that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles were to be downplayed until their next program after Hell In a Cell.
It was noted that there are two trains of thought here, depending on what side of the fence you are on – Banks and Naomi stood up against what they felt was bad creative that worked against them and everything they had built for themselves in recent months, therefore they were fighting for themselves, their fans and what they felt was best, or Banks and Naomi were talents who were instructed to do what the company that pays them wanted them to do, but they fought against it and when they didn’t get what they wanted, they instead opted to walk out and not perform, letting the company and their own fans down.
The truth likely sits somewhere in the middle of these two ideas.
There are some who will think Banks and Naomi were being marks for themselves, while some will easily point to Banks and Naomi and claim this was an ego or attitude issue. Others will see this as a moment where talent, faced with creative that did not click or have any true building blocks underneath it as support, shoved back and refused, wanting something better for themselves and the audience.
WWE sources have indicated that at the center of the issue was that neither Banks or McMahon blinked when the other refused to back down on what they wanted. This goes with the previous report that said Banks made the decision to walk out after she and McMahon both refused to budge on their stance.
However, only a few people know for sure what was actually said in the room when everything went down. The true, unanswered question here is what happened in the meeting with Vince – did he agree to change some of the direction but then change his mind? Did he put his foot down and say absolutely not? Did other producers or writers get involved? Were Banks and Naomi told to stop arguing and just go with the plan? Those answers have not been confirmed yet.
There has been some speculation on the whole situation being a work, but PWInsider reports that this is not just one big storyline. However, it is possible that once things smooth over, this can be worked into WWE’s official storylines for Banks and Naomi.
Banks and Naomi remained on WWE’s internal active roster as of this morning, but there’s still no word on what is next for them, or what is planned for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
