Is Sasha Banks now a heel on ‘Monday Night Raw’? (WWE.com)
The biggest takeaways from this week’s Monday Night Raw had to do with the superstar shake up, as a number of prominent SmackDown Live personalities were traded to the blue brand. But lost in the shuffle of all of this shake up chaos was the fact that Sasha Banks seems to have turned heel.
This came during a segment towards the end of the broadcast between Sasha Banks and Bayley. Sasha Banks entered and told the crowd that she had some unfinished business. Before getting into the details, she introduced Bayley, who entered and talked to the audience about how grateful she is that she got to achieve her dream at WrestleMania.
Sasha Banks then took the microphone and said that WrestleMania didn’t go as planned for her, but she still wanted to offer her congratulations. Then things took a turn.
“I wanted to come out here and congratulate you on the biggest moment in your career,” Banks said. “But Bayley, that moment is over.”
Sasha Banks said this in a very dramatic and villainous fashion. She was then evidently about to declare her intentions to take the Women’s Championship away from Bayley when she was interrupted by Alexa Bliss.
“That’s why I’m out here to ask you for that WWE…” Sasha Banks said before Alexa Bliss’ theme song began; she was obviously about to say “WWE Women’s Championship.”
The rest of the segment, however, was all about Alexa Bliss and Mickie James, and Sasha Banks never got to finish her thought. Alexa Bliss said that she wanted to put an end to the saga between Bayley and Sasha Banks.
The fact that Alexa Bliss and Mickie James are now on Raw made a lot of viewers completely forget about what was going on with Sasha Banks, especially since Alexa Bliss said that what was happening before she entered was something “heartfelt,” even though she was actually interrupting an apparent heel turn.
Though we really didn’t get a full-on heel turn from Sasha Banks tonight, that’s clearly where the WWE is heading based on this segment. What’s unclear is if Sasha will still be feuding with Bayley or not. In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer speculates that Charlotte and Sasha Banks will both be traded from Raw to SmackDown Live.
This would be rather surprising, as a feud between Bayley and Sasha Banks has been teased for several months now. Like with the recent feud between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, the close friendship of Bayley and Sasha has been repeatedly stressed on Raw, while it has also been made clear that Banks desperately wants the Women’s Championship and will do anything it takes to get her hands on it. Viewers have just been waiting for the company to pull the trigger and have a Festival of Friendship style moment in which Banks betrays Bayley. Last night, that seemed to be where things were headed before Alexa Bliss came out.
There are only a few faces in the SmackDown women’s division right now, and so if Sasha is to go to SmackDown and turn heel, she could only feud with Becky Lynch, Naomi, or possibly Natalya if Natalya turns face.
After Monday Night Raw finished airing, Sasha Banks said on Twitter that she wasn’t done talking and that her actions will just have to speak for themselves.
I wasn’t done talking…… I guess my actions will have to speak for me. #Raw
We’ll find out on SmackDown Live tonight whether Sasha Banks is staying on Monday Night Raw.