Sasha Banks is reportedly at a stalemate with WWE, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Regarding the situation between the two sides, we’ve noted how Banks reportedly tried to quit the company during WrestleMania 35 weekend as she was unhappy about her team with Bayley being split up, and the decision to put the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles on The IIconics. Banks and Bayley believed they would be given a lengthy run with the titles to make them mean something.
Word from within WWE is that Banks wants to sit out the rest of her contract, according to Meltzer.
There’s no word yet on when Banks would be eligible to leave the company but Meltzer noted that WWE could add time to the contract for the time she spends not working, similar to the situation with Neville. She could be out of action for a significant amount of time if WWE adds time to the contract.
It was noted that WWE does want Banks back in the mix, but she wants things to be different. Those differences are unclear and not agreed on because the two sides have not made up yet.
Banks has been scheduled for the May 19 WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view, but her status for the show is up in the air right now.
The current plan is for RAW and SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch to pull double duty at the May 19 WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view from Hartford, CT.
As noted, Lacey Evans vs. Lynch for the RAW Women’s Title was confirmed for Money In the Bank on last night’s RAW. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the plan as of Monday was for Lynch to defend both titles in two different matches at the pay-per-view.
There’s no word yet on who Lynch’s second opponent will be, for the SmackDown Women’s Title, but it could be Charlotte Flair. A face-off segment between Flair and Lynch is scheduled to take place on tonight’s SmackDown episode.
WWE Tag Team Champion Jeff Hardy suffered an injury at Saturday’s night’s SmackDown live event in Madison, Wisconsin, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. The Hardyz had teamed up at that event to defeat The Usos.
Meltzer reported that Hardy appeared to have suffered some sort of leg injury. At Sunday’s SmackDown live event in Rochester, Minnesota, Jeff was in Matt’s corner and was said to be “limping significantly.” At the show, Matt defeated Jimmy Uso.
At Monday’s live event in Sioux City, Iowa, Matt Hardy teamed with R-Truth to defeat Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
The Hardy Boyz had just defeated The Usos to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on the April 9th edition of SmackDown Live. They are the first team to win the WWE World Tag Team Championship, the RAW Tag Team Championship and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
Former RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey posted the video below on her YouTube channel discussing her WWE future following WrestleMania.
As we previously reported, Rousey was injured during the WrestleMania 35 main event where she lost the RAW Women’s Championship to Becky Lynch in a triple threat match also involving Charlotte Flair. Rousey noted that she recently underwent surgery on her right pinky. She said that she had two pins inserted into her hand and that she will be wearing a cast for four weeks. After that, she will be going on a vacation with husband Travis Browne around the world. She said that they will be enjoying themselves until they “are with child.”
Rousey revealed that she suffered the injury during the WrestleMania 35 main event when she threw over the table and “came in a little hot.”
Rousey is not advertised for any WWE shows going forward, although she is signed to a multi-year deal with the company. Rousey revealed that she originally had only planned to stay with WWE until last November and then go off to start a family. She said that plans changed after it became a possibility that WrestleMania would be headlined by a women’s match.
“Originally we approached them, or I approached them, I thought I’d only be able to wrestle from WrestleMania until November because we already wanted to start a family,” Rousey said. “We came to the WWE as, ‘Hey, before we have a baby, I just want to come do this for a couple of months because it’s something I always wanted to do.’ It just kind of snowballed. Instead of being like a small detour in my life, it became my whole life for an entire year and I completely fell in love with it.
“As time went on, we were kind of playing it by ear, I loved it so much and I ended up getting the title. When it became a real possibility that women could be the main event of WrestleMania if I stuck around, I decided to stick around. We decided that after WrestleMania, me and my amazing husband would go off and start trying to start our family.”
Rousey is leaving her WWE future open. She said that she’s not sure if she will return or not once she has a child because she has no idea how she’ll feel until then.
“As for WWE plans in the future, we want to have a baby first,” Rousey said. “I don’t know what it’s like to have a baby. I could look down at this beautiful child and be like, ‘f–k everything, I don’t care about anything else other than this baby’ and you’ll never see me again. Or I could be like my mom, she trained while she was eight months pregnant and then won the US Open six weeks after giving birth, which was unbelievable. I don’t think I’m going to try and aspire to her level. But I’m just saying, you never know
“I don’t want to make any promises about the future when I don’t know how I’m gonna feel in the future. So thank you everyone for your support, I had the most amazing time this year! I am also looking forward to a little bit of a rest and some mommy – daddy time.”
It was finally revealed on tonight’s RAW that is Bray Wyatt behind the bizarre vignettes that WWE was airing the past few week. An altogether different Bray Wyatt appeared in a new vignette and introduced his special friends Mercy The Buzzard and Penny The Witch at the “Firefly Fun House.”
Bray’s “Firefly Fun House” had a Pee Wee’s Playhouse feel to it.
Bray mentioned how he used to be a very bad man but he has been “barbarically punished for his wrongdoings” and the old part of him is dead now. He used a chainsaw to destroy a cardboard cutout of the original Bray Wyatt during the segment.
When the War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) was called up from NXT to RAW last week during the WWE Superstar Shake-Up, they were renamed The Viking Experience (Ivar and Erik). Now after a lot of backlash on social media, they have been renamed yet again as The Viking Raiders.
Tonight on RAW they defeated The Lucha House Party.
WWE has apparently changed their minds on a few roster moves made during the 2019 Superstar Shakeup last week.
Andrade and Zelina Vega are now listed as SmackDown Superstars on the WWE website. They were moved to RAW in the Shakeup last Monday and Andrade picked up a non-title win over WWE Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor, who was sent to the blue brand the next night. Vega and Andrade had cut several promos on social media and video to warn the red brand that they were the new faces of the show.
It looks like Aleister Black could be going from RAW to SmackDown as well. Black, who is married to Vega, had been floating between shows since his call-up from WWE NXT, but he and partner Ricochet were confirmed for the red brand in the Shakeup last week. Black is now listed on the SmackDown roster on the official WWE website and his name has the SmackDown logo next to it. Ricochet is still listed for the RAW brand, so that tag team is apparently done.
Andrade and Charlotte Flair were one of the real-life WWE couples affected by the Superstar Shakeup, but that appears to have been rectified. Black and Vega were also kept together on the same brand, but the Black and Ricochet tag team appears to be done.
It will be interesting to see if the Andrade, Vega and Black roster changes are addressed on tonight’s RAW episode.
As we’ve noted, it’s believed that WWE United States Champion Samoa Joe will join the red brand on tonight’s show. Joe had been scheduled to bring the title to RAW on last week’s Shakeup edition of RAW but he was very sick, so sick that his segment was pulled from the show. WWE did not quietly announce Joe’s roster change as they did with other Superstars because they were saving it for tonight as they have an angle planned.
WWE has reportedly cancelled the upcoming WWE Backlash pay-per-view on June 16th in San Diego, CA, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.
WWE is planning an event in Saudi Arabia on June 7th. According to The Observer, WWE felt that the two shows would be too close together so they will just run the event in Saudi Arabia. WWE had house shows scheduled in California that weekend, which will likely be cancelled.
The Undertaker is expected to wrestle Elias at the event in Saudi Arabia. Taker is also scheduled to appear for a signing appearance that Sunday, June 9th at the Niagara Falls Comic Con in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Saturday it was announced that Dustin Rhodes will be battling his brother Cody Rhodes at AEW’s Double Or Nothing and today Rhodes or Goldust, just shared his official WWE farewell statement on Instagram.
In the statement, he explained further that he asked for his release from WWE and that it was granted. He was going to take this time to explore some of those other opportunities that took a backseat.
Rhodes also went on that he would appreciate the fans continued support as he turns this page of his life.
He wrote that WWE has given him and his family such incredible years and experiences and has nothing but respect and warmth for everyone at WWE. Rhodes said that he loved WWE and every single of his co-workers and thanked them for loving and taking care of him for so long.
Rhodes ended the statement with: “Remember and never forget the name of… Goldust.”
Dustin Rhodes also posted on Twitter a video of him packing away his gear for his WWE character of Goldust. Dustin writes: “Goodbye. #ThankYouGoldust #KeepSteppin”
