WWE News & Rumors: Why Did Charlotte Lose Title to Sasha Banks?

The WWE universe was thrilled on Monday night to see Sasha Banks achieve her dream of becoming the WWE Women’s Champion, defeating Charlotte in a match on Raw. Now, we’re beginning to learn more about why the decision was made to have Charlotte lose her championship title.

A recent rumor suggested that Charlotte recently asked for time off from the company and that this is why the title changed hands on July 25th’s show. If true, this would have explained why Sasha won on an episode of Raw rather than at SummerSlam; the two superstars have a match scheduled for that pay-per-view, so saving the victory for August would have made sense.

However, new information is beginning to emerge that conflicts with the idea of Charlotte asking for time off. PWInsider is now reporting that Charlotte has no plans to take any time off, and in fact she is scheduled for many future shows. Instead, PWInsider says that Vince McMahon felt that Charlotte’s time as champion helped to legitimize the WWE Women’s Championship title, and now he finally felt comfortable handing it off to someone else.

McMahon also evidently wanted to open the first episode of the new era with a big surprise, and Sasha Banks finally achieving her dream of becoming WWE Women’s Championship certainly fit the bill. The new era is considered the time following the recent WWE brand split, during which the entire roster was split between Raw and SmackDown. 

Sasha Banks and Charlotte will supposedly still be having their match at SummerSlam next month, and the WWE creative team felt that having Sasha win on Raw this past week would only make that feud more complex and exciting. PWInsider also reports that Triple H is a huge fan of Sasha Banks’ work and thought she would win the title.

And Triple H is far from the only one; Sasha Banks is a viewer favorite, and her win on Monday night was met with massive fanfare. The crowd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania expressed their excitement with a “You deserve it!” chant, and social media users were beyond thrilled to see Banks achieve her dream.

Sasha Banks, whose real name is Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado, began training for wrestling in 2008, and she signed with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2012.