Last week, news broke that Sasha Banks wasn’t in line to return to WWE or pop up in All Elite Wrestling, and instead had signed on to appear at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 show in January. That was a development that few wrestling fans had seen coming. Most assumed that she’d end up in AEW along with several other wayward WWE wrestlers, but that was not the case. After months of being connected to All Elite Wrestling, a WWE return and even Impact, NJPW emerged as the front-runner for Banks and her immense talent. More details about her future with WWE and what’s on tap for her in Japan have been reported.
Over the weekend, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said the following: “As of right now, Sasha Banks has agreed to terms for multiple dates with New Japan Pro Wrestling but re-signing with WWE is still a possibility.” The longtime wrestling insider noted that NJPW’s booking of Sasha Banks did not run through WWE. “[WWE] were talking to her about a return, and they were very far apart on money. That was the last that I had heard. Again, could AEW afford her? She wanted a lot. What she was asking for was a very high number for a WWE woman wrestler, but again, if you look at the amount of money WWE takes in, she still would have been underpaid.” Meltzer said that, as far as he knew, Banks and NJPW still needed to sign on the dotted line but believed it was a done deal verbally. He also discussed the possibility of WWE freezing her contract due to her walkout on an episode of Monday Night Raw. “As of right now, she’s done with WWE. Like I said, it could change at any moment, but that’s the situation right now,” he added.
Saraya Might Need A New Mystery Partner In AEW
Rumors have been swirling concerning Sasha Banks being Saraya’s mystery tag-team partner for an upcoming AEW show in Los Angles on January 11. On the December 7 episode of Dynamite, Britt Baker and Women’s Champion Jamie Hayter challenged Saraya to a tag match in what should be a big and important show for All Elite Wrestling as they try to fill The Forum in LA. The magnitude of that Dynamite episode led some fans to speculate that it would be Banks and Saraya taking on Baker and Hater. That’d be a massive get for Tony Khan, but there are apparently many moving parts surrounding Mercedes Varnado and her future in professional wrestling.
As Meltzer noted, AEW’s audience is already anticipating a colossal name along the lines of Banks to be Saraya’s partner. If it doesn’t turn out to be The Boss, then the odds are good that there will be at least some disappointment following that Dynamite broadcast. That’s the double-edged nature of teasing so many massive surprises, year in and year out. Eventually, all the prominent free agent names have dried up, and fans are left disgruntled with the real-life outcome.
If it isn’t Banks, AEW only has a few major free agents to pull from. Khan could look to NJPW and STARDOM for the answer. Good as she is, Kairi Sane doesn’t have the drawing power that Sasha Banks does, at least not in North America. There is only a little awareness about what’s happening in Japan, as AEW learned during the build toward Forbidden Door, where some of NJPW’s most prominent stars failed to move the needle regarding crowd reaction. Sane and Saraya would be fun, but filling in for Sasha Banks, if it’s not her in LA, will be a tall task for All Elite Wrestling.
