On Monday Night Raw, Sasha Banks announces that she will be returning at Clash of Champions. (WWE)
Sasha Banks’ recent Monday Night Raw promo is being criticized by many of the WWE’s superstars.
On Raw this week, Sasha Banks returned after being absent for two weeks due to injury. In real life, Banks legitimately had been experiencing back pain going into SummerSlam, and so that’s why the WWE management decided she would lose her title and take some time off.
So fans were worried when Banks on Monday said she would be coming to Raw with some bad news. Towards the end of the show, she came out to make an announcement, and viewers were clearly meant to believe she was about to announce her retirement. Banks held back tears as she said that every story has a final chapter, and it was quite reminiscent of many real retirement announcements we have seen recently.
Because of that, some WWE employees evidently think it was distasteful. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter via WrestlingInc, much of the company’s talent feels that the promo was in bad taste, as superstars having to end their careers early due to serious injuries is a very sensitive topic backstage, and it’s something wrestlers have to deal with far too often.
Obviously, Sasha Banks herself isn’t responsible for the promo, and so the backstage heat has been directed towards the WWE’s creative team for making this decision.
Sasha Banks’ retirement ended up being a complete fakeout; what she was actually trying to say was that she has bad news for Charlotte because she will reclaim her championship at Clash of Champions.
But far too many superstars haven’t had the luxury of ending retirement segments with a reversal like that, including Daniel Bryan, who just seven months ago was forced to retire due to injuries. It’s clearly still very upsetting to Bryan that he can’t get back in the ring, and so watching Banks’ promo on Raw could not have been a pleasant experience for him.
Clash of Champions will air on September 25th.