Tag: Naomi

WWE Is Reportedly Trying To “Reconcile” With Sasha Banks & Naomi

It’s been more than two months since Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of WWE. The company is reportedly trying to make amends with both stars.

With Vince McMahon now retired and out of the WWE picture, company officials are reportedly trying to convince Sasha Banks and Naomi to come back for another run.

Last Friday, McMahon announced his retirement via social media. WWE also announced that Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan would serve as the co-CEOs, and that Triple H (Paul Levesque), would take over as the new Head of Talent Relations (replacing John Laurinaitis) as well as the leader of creative team.

Banks and Naomi, who were the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship holders at the time, walked out of the 5/16 Raw show due to apparent unhappiness with the creative plans that night. Many naturally assumed that the two would never return to the company, but McMahon’s retirement could change everything.

Speaking on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast (via Ian Carey of F4WOnline.com), the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that the WWE statuses of Banks and Naomi are “up in the air”, and that WWE is trying “to reconcile” with the former SmackDown Women’s Champions.

“It’s kind of up in the air. I mean, they’re gone. The last I heard was that there would be attempts to be made to reconcile, especially with Vince gone,” Meltzer said. “So, it’s up in the air. I don’t think there’s anything definite just yet.”

Needless to say, McMahon’s sudden retirement may go a long way in recruiting plenty more stars. For what it’s worth, former WWE star Maria Kanellis, who worked two tenures in the company, told a fan on Twitter that she would be open to a WWE return now that Vince is no longer leading the way. Kanellis added that her working relationship with Triple H was “great.”

Not only that, but more AEW stars are reportedly viewing WWE as an option now that the leadership at the top has changed. Will the new leadership lead to Naomi and Banks coming back? Only time will tell.

No Update On The Women’s Tag Team Championships

Fast forward two months later, and WWE still hasn’t given a timeline on when they will crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions. The titles haven’t been held by any talent since Banks and Naomi walked out.

Source: TheSportster

Possible WWE Contract Ramifications For Sasha Banks And Naomi

WWE reportedly has the option of freezing both Sasha Banks and Naomi’s contracts while they are suspended by the company.

According to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, this is due to the wording of the contracts both wrestlers signed. Because the former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions were suspended for failing to perform when they walked out of the building prior to last week’s “Raw,” WWE has the option to freeze their deals. This would mean that the time frame of their contracts would be paused, and they would be stopped from progressing rather than continuing to roll towards expiration. This is normally done when talent is unable to perform, as WWE doesn’t want to lose out on potential dates.

Right now it is unknown whether or not WWE will actually be freezing Banks’ or Naomi’s contracts, but the company has done this in the past when it comes to talent going out with injuries, including cases like Bryan Danielson and Rey Mysterio. Both women’s deals are reportedly set to expire in the near future, though Naomi, at least, was supposedly working on a contract extension prior to the walk-out.

As for Banks, she was spotted this weekend at a Steve Aoki concert, and she has received support online from her cousin, Snoop Dogg. But on Sunday, the WrestleVotes Twitter account, which has provided reliable information in the past, claimed this situation “is going to get worse before it gets any better.”

On WWE “SmackDown” last week, Michael Cole officially announced that Banks and Naomi had been stripped of their Women’s Tag Team Championship and were suspended and that a tournament will be held to crown new ones. No tag teams have been officially announced for the tournament, and no date has been set for it, nor is there any indication as to how long Banks’ and Naomi’s suspension will go on.

Neither Banks nor Naomi has made a public comment since they chose to walk out during WWE “Raw” last week, for what is currently believed to be creative issues. The company had reportedly been planning on Naomi challenging for the “Raw” Women’s Championship at WWE Hell In A Cell, while Banks would get a shot for the “SmackDown” Women’s Title. Both women were set to lose their respective matches.

WWE has also removed both ladies from the, ‘Then. Now. Forever.’ graphic that the company uses before the shows, with Cody Rhodes taking their place. On top of that, online merchandise for them has been removed from WWE Shop, but they were still available physically at live events over the weekend.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Some Current WWE Stars ‘Wish They Had The Guts To’ Walk Out Like Naomi And Sasha Banks [Reports]

The WWE locker room is divided after the Women’s Tag Champs upped and left – but some are thinking of following suit.

While Naomi and Sasha Banks are getting trashed by commentary on RAW and SmackDown for walking out of the company following a booking dispute, reports suggest that there are those who wish they could do the same.

The Women’s Tag-Team Champions weren’t happy with the creative direction for their titles exacerbated by the booking of a Six Pack Challenge to main event Monday Night RAW, that would see the tag-team used more as singles wrestlers going forward – something neither Naomi, nor Banks approved of.

Although they have received the backing of many fans online, the duo have been slated by the company. Since it happened Corey Graves and Michael Cole have criticized the pair for their actions. WWE even released a statement completely breaking kayfabe which labeled the women unprofessional for not wanting to work with other Superstars.

Despite the slating they’ve received from Vince McMahon’s business, Wade Keller made a recent PWTorch.com audio update and indicated that the locker room is divided on how it feels about the situation and how it was handled.

I can say there are people who in that locker room – colleagues of theirs [including] active wrestlers, and otherwise, who are disappointed and not sympathetic to the way Sasha and Naomi handled this,” Wade Keller said. (h/t Sportskeeda)

Clearly some current stars are aggrieved at their colleagues for walking out, but Keller would go on to say that others are supportive and some even wish they could do the same thing.

He added: “And there are others who, yes, think this is a cool thing that they did. And they sort of wished that they had the guts to do something like that and take a stance.”

The situation between Naomi and Sasha Banks and WWE is ongoing.

Source: TheSportster

Sasha Banks & Naomi Suspended Indefinitely, Women’s Tag Team Titles Now Vacant

Last night’s edition of “Smackdown” included a huge announcement regarding Sasha Banks, Naomi, and the future of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.

At the announce desk, Michael Cole stated that Banks and Naomi had “let us all down”. He recounted the statement WWE had put out on social media earlier this week. He says the pair have both been suspended indefinitely and a tournament will be held in the coming weeks to crown new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.

Banks and Naomi had walked out of “Raw” on Monday night. The pair were reportedly not pleased about the creative plans for them. A “6 Pack Challenge” match was announced at the beginning of “Raw”, which included Banks and Naomi.

WWE said Banks and Naomi walked out during the broadcast. According to WWE’s statement, they went into Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis’ office, gave him the women’s tag team titles, and left the arena.

The main event match was hastily changed to a one-on-one match between Asuka and Becky Lynch. Asuka won the match to earn a title shot against “Raw” Women’s Champion Bianca Belair at the upcoming “Hell In A Cell” event.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage Details On Why WWE Won’t Fire Sasha Banks Or Naomi [Report]

A new report explains why we shouldn’t expect WWE to fire Sasha Banks or Naomi. Both talents walked out of this week’s episode of Raw.

WWE reportedly isn’t planning to fire Sasha Banks or Naomi despite their decision to walk out of Monday Night Raw together this week.

As previously noted, Banks and Naomi walked out of this week’s Raw taping due to unhappiness over the show’s main event plans.. WWE posted a statement on the matter, claiming that the two placed the Women’s Tag Team Championships on the desk in John Laurinaitis’ office. The statement added that Banks and Naomi “claimed they weren’t respected enough as tag team champions” before departing with suitcases in hand.

It’s easy to speculate that WWE will simply release one or both talents from their current contracts, but that apparently won’t be the case.

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Ringside News), Dave Meltzer explained that WWE won’t release Banks and/or Naomi with the obvious reason that they don’t want AEW landing either star. Meltzer also brought up the infamous title exchange incident between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, noting that The Queen wasn’t fired despite her actions

“If it was another time and another place, it’s very possible that they would have been fired, but it’s this time and this place,” Meltzer explained. “I remember when the Charlotte Flair thing happened with Becky Lynch and I was talking to people there and it was kind of, like, if it was another time and another place, yeah, they would have fired Charlotte Flair for what she did on live TV screwing up the angle on purpose. But it’s, like, do you want to send her to AEW? No. And essentially nothing happened and they don’t want to send either of them to AEW. Then you’ve got the whole Naomi married to Jimmy Uso…It’s just a waiting game to see what happens next.”

Source: TheSportster

The Latest On Why Naomi And Sasha Banks Walked Out Of WWE RAW

 A new report is providing insight as to why the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions made their decision to walk out of WWE Monday Night RAW.

Early yesterday morning, PWInsider revealed that several sources had told them that the original plan for Banks and Naomi on RAW, a six-pack challenge for the right to face Bianca Belair for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship at Hell in a Cell, would have seen Naomi pin Sasha Banks to win the match and receive the title shot.

Furthermore, Banks and Naomi were to have been featured in several segments building to them facing off in the match. Post-main-event, the partners would have celebrated Naomi’s victory.

Sources say Naomi would go on to lose to Belair at Hell in a Cell. Though not confirmed, it was also noted that some sources believed that Sasha Banks would go on to face WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey at the same event, with Banks also losing.

It was also noted that this led to concerns from Banks and Naomi regarding creativity over the WWE Women’s Tag Titles, and later in the afternoon, an alternative idea was pitched that would have seen Banks and Naomi lose a short tag match to set up their next challenges. While PWInsider couldn’t confirm it 100%, they noted one source told them the planned opponents were Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H., who were at one point also scheduled for the six-pack challenge.

The report goes on to say that Sasha Banks and Naomi were told before RAW by producer Molly Holly that WWE was going forward with plans for the six-pack challenge. This then led to Banks and Naomi informing WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis that they were leaving, giving him the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships in the process. The report echos WWE’s statement regarding the matter during Monday Night RAW last night.

From there, it was said that Vince McMahon was informed of Banks and Naomi’s departure either shortly before or shortly after RAW began. A backstage vignette between Becky Lynch and Adam Pearce setting up Asuka and Lynch as the main event was pitched on the spot, with McMahon approving of it. One source suggested it was Lynch that came up with the idea for the segment.

Finally, those backstage at WWE apparently did not believe Naomi or Sasha Banks took issue with the finish to the six-pack challenge, but rather the duo’s creative going forward as the Women’s Tag Team Champions.

It should be noted that PWInsider’s report seems to confirm a Twitter thread from user @Addidas_Head88 from last night regarding the situation. The thread stated that Banks and Naomi had been upset with WWE for some time due to the promotion’s handling of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, which the duo won at WrestleMania 38.

As of this time, neither Naomi nor Sasha Banks has commented on their walkout or WWE’s statement regarding their walkout.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Shares Statement On Sasha Banks & Naomi Walking Out Of Raw, Sasha Reportedly Has Backstage Heat

Sasha Banks and Naomi made headlines this week by walking out of the Raw tapings. WWE has released a statement on the matter.

More details have emerged regarding the story of Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out of last night’s edition of WWE Raw.

As previously covered here, multiple reports stated that the Women’s Tag Team Champions walked out ahead of Raw because of creative frustration. Apparently, the initial planned main event was a Raw Six-Pack Challenge to decide the challenger for Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Championship.

Banks was reportedly unhappy with the plans for the match, which led to her leaving the taping. Naomi decided to walk out as well, and Raw commentator Corey Graves even acknowledged it during the show. In the main event, Asuka defeated Becky Lynch to become the new No. 1 contender for the Raw Women’s Championship.

During the show, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com shared a statement that he received from WWE. The statement claims that the Women’s Tag Team Champions were carrying suitcases when they entered the office of John Laurinaitis.

Banks and Naomi placed their title belts on his desk and “walked out”. According to the statement, that and Naomi “claimed they weren’t respected enough as tag team champions.” WWE offered “regret” for not being able to perform the planned main event. You can read the full statement below:

When Sasha Banks and Naomi arrived at the arena this afternoon, they were informed of their participation in the main event of tonight’s Monday Night Raw.

During the broadcast, they walked into WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis’ office with their suitcases in hand, placed their tag team championship belts on his desk, and walked out.

They claimed they weren’t respected enough as tag team champions. And even though they had eight hours to rehearse and construct their match, they claimed they were uncomfortable in the ring with two of their opponents – even though they’d had matches with those individuals in the past with no consequence.

Monday Night Raw is a scripted live TV show, whose characters are expected to perform the requirements of their contract. We regret we were unable to deliver, as advertised, tonight’s main event.

After walking out during WWE RAW this week, Sasha Banks has backstage heat, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.

These feelings were passed on from people not in WWE management, but they also weren’t aware of the full situation going on. Naomi’s name was not mentioned, so it is unknown whether or not there are the same feelings towards her right now.

Since then, Sasha Banks has unfollowed all WWE-related social media accounts, including Vince McMahon. Meanwhile, a friend of Naomi’s has tweeted at length about the issue, citing creative as the problem here. Naomi was set to win the match that last night and face Belair at Hell In A Cell.

She was going to pin Nikki A.S.H. to achieve that goal, not Sasha, as had been speculated. It is believed that they wanted to focus on improving the tag team division instead. Neither woman reportedly had any safety concerns about their opponents, despite what WWE claimed.

There has yet to be a confirmed reason for why they left the show, and the exact issues that have taken place. Neither Sasha Banks nor Naomi has made a comment on the matter at the time of writing.

Sources: TheSportster and Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Charlotte Flair Defeating Asuka For The SmackDown Women’s Title, Stars React To Their Women’s Title Opportunity Being Scrapped

On Tuesday night’s SmackDown Live, Charlotte Flair faced Asuka for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. It was a rematch of their WrestleMania 34 encounter, and Charlotte once again beat her, winning the title in the process.

Flair is now an eight-time champion. Originally, plans were for Ronda Rousey to defend the RAW Women’s Championship against Charlotte and Becky Lynch in the main event of WrestleMania 35. Now there are two champions in the match.

According to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Charlotte winning the Smackdown Womens’ Championship wasn’t planned until the day of SmackDown Live.

The idea of Charlotte going into WrestleMania with a title has been talked about for a while, but the trigger was pulled last night.

All four scorned competitors took to Twitter afterward to vent their frustrations.

“I’m a very very patient person with a long fuse, but let me tell you when it blows, you won’t want to be the one in my way,” Sonya wrote. While her current frenemy Mandy claimed that WWE brass was “Putting all the equity in the wrong blonde.”

Carmella simply tweeted a expressionless emoji, followed by “Push through,” and Naomi just shared the word “Welp.”

https://twitter.com/SonyaDevilleWWE/status/1110703690397216768

https://twitter.com/WWE_MandyRose/status/1110718278601764866

https://twitter.com/CarmellaWWE/status/1110711058141011968

https://twitter.com/NaomiWWE/status/1110703803916013574

Jimmy Uso Body Cam Footage From February Arrest Released By Police (Video)

Detroit police have released body camera footage from the February 13 arrest of SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso, as seen below.

As noted before, Naomi was driving their car down the wrong way of a one-way street in downtown Detroit when the two were pulled over at 10:22pm that night.. Police noted that their 2018 Dodge Journey reeked of alcohol.

Police said Naomi told them that she was visiting from out of town and didn’t know the streets. Naomi also said that Jimmy was intoxicated.

“He’s had a lot to drink. He’s intoxicated,” Naomi said.

Police said Jimmy pulled Naomi back into the car when they asked her to get out to talk. Police also said they asked Jimmy to stay seated in the car, but that’s when he got out, took his shirt off and “squared up” with officers like he wanted to fight. An officer pulled out his Taser and ordered Jimmy to get on the ground, and he did.

“Man, you don’t understand. I’m just here in and out. I’m in and out, man,” Jimmy said.

Jimmy was arrested for disorderly conduct and obstruction. He was taken to the Detroit Detention Center, where he bonded out.

WWE issued a statement on the arrest shortly after it came out in the news. They said, “Jonathan Fatu is responsible for his own personal actions.”

The Usos would win the SmackDown Tag Team Titles from Shane McMahon and The Miz just days later at WWE Elimination Chamber.

Noami later defended her actions to a fan on Twitter. She wrote, “I was NOT ticketed, I was NOT drinking, leaving the lot I was unaware that it exits to a 1 way street (it was dark snow no signs no traffic I was pulled immediately made a mistake and I own it) as for my husband he’s more of a man you’ll ever be & I’ll leave it at that #blocked”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jimmy Uso Arrested After Being Pulled Over With Naomi, Incident With Police (Mugshot Photo)

Image result for Jimmy Uso and Naomi

TMZ reports that Jimmy Uso was arrested after a drunken dispute with cops in Detroit this week.

Jimmy and wife Naomi were reportedly pulled over near downtown Detroit after Naomi was driving the wrong direction on a one-way street, according to police. Cops say Jimmy and Noami were driving a 2018 Dodge Journey that reeked of alcohol. They ordered Naomi out of the car and while talking to her, Jimmy got out of the car and took off his shirt & jacket, then squared up with police like he wanted to fight, despite commands from police to stay where he was.

A police officer reportedly pulled out his taser because he feared for his safety. Jimmy ended up settling down and complied with the commands from police. He was handcuffed and arrested for disorderly conduct & obstruction. Jimmy was taken to jail and later released on bond.

WWE issued the following statement on Uso’s arrest this afternoon:

“Jonathan Fatu is responsible for his own personal actions.”

This statement is similar to the comments WWE issued in January 2018 when Jey Uso was arrested for DUI in Texas. That statement read, “Joshua Fatu is responsible for his own personal actions. We are investigating the matter and awaiting information from local law enforcement officials.”

This is Jimmy’s third arrest since signing with WWE. He was arrested on DUI charges in March 2013 and September 2011.

The Usos are still scheduled to challenge SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Miz and Shane McMahon at Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

A fan on Twitter said they had been checking Twitter all day to see if Naomi was okay and the WWE Superstar responded, “Yes dear, we are safe and ok, thank you and love y’all.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Mugshot photo below is from TMZ Sports:

Image result for Jimmy Uso Mugshot Photo