WWE: Sasha Banks has every right to be frustrated, and fans should support her

Sasha Banks is one of the most respected wrestlers in the world, and while she’s become an important part of WWE over the last few years, it’s never seemed like the company has done quite enough to showcase her greatness.

At WWE WrestleMania 35, the Boss’N’Hug Connection, a tag team comprised by Sasha Banks and Bayley, dropped the Women’s Tag Team Championships to the IIconics, formed by Peyton Royce and Billie Kay.

While Kay and Royce are an excellent tandem and are more than deserving of their own title reign, fans were puzzled that the Boss’N’Hug Connection lost the titles less than two months after becoming the first champions. It seemed like they would be defending the titles against opponents on all brands, including NXT, setting the tone for future reigns with an initial reign that elevated the titles.

Instead, after fighting hard for the titles, Sasha and Bayley lost the championships in their second Pay Per View defense.

That seems to have frustrated Banks, as both the Wrestling Observer News’s Dave Meltzer and Fightful.com’s Sean Ross Sapp report that Banks “may” want to part ways with WWE.

Per Sapp, Banks’s situation is comparable to The Revival’s a few months ago. Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder were frustrated by their booking and by the overall booking of the Raw Tag Team Division, so they threatened to leave. WWE didn’t want them to, say, go to a competitor like All Elite Wrestling, so they asked them to stick around for a few more months with the promise that things would change. The Revival won the Raw Tag Team Titles and seem to be headed to SmackDown Live at next week’s Superstar Shakeup after losing the titles at WrestleMania.

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It seems like WWE did try to give The Revival what they wanted, and perhaps they could do the same for Banks, whose release most likely wouldn’t be granted by WWE. They know how popular Banks is, and for as often as they leave her off of Pay Per Views or book her in comically short title reigns, they also know that she is one of the best in the world.

Banks and Bayley helped change the game with their rivalry in NXT, and they were poised to do the same in the Women’s Tag Team Division. Furthermore, Banks’s rivalry with Charlotte Flair on Raw received widespread acclaim, and Banks had a Match of the Year candidate at this year’s Royal Rumble Pay Per View against Ronda Rousey. It was probably the best match of Rousey’s stellar pro wrestling career thus far.

Given all that Sasha Banks has accomplished in WWE, it is absolutely fair for her to feel upset and feel like she’d be better off somewhere else. There seems to be a real option in AEW, though other promotions often aren’t greener pastures. Impact Wrestling doesn’t reach a wide television audience right now, Ring of Honor doesn’t seem to value women’s wrestling (both Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood have left after being their big acquisitions), and other promotions simply can’t offer competitive pay.

Banks is in a difficult situation, but she has the support of so many fans who have been inspired by her work. As “The Legit Boss”, Sasha was one of WWE’s best promos and characters; she was a revolutionary heel in the women’s division. And in the ring, Banks is a technical wizard who sells like nobody else and has a catalogue of great matches against a variety of opponents, including Becky “Champ Champ” Lynch.

Right now, Banks is the talk of the wrestling world, and she should have plenty of leverage here. WWE haven’t “buried” Banks by any means, but it’s fair to wonder if they’ve done enough to give one of their best overall superstars a platform to shine. If she and Bayley truly were booked to lose a handicap match to Alexa Bliss, then that would have been a massive mistake from Vince McMahon. And given how quickly Bayley lost that match, that rumor has some traction.

Regardless, there are so many emotions involved here, and it is important to validate what Sasha is experiencing. So many talented wrestlers have been held down by WWE, especially Black women, who rarely seem to get the full understanding of the fan base due to the double-standards that still exist in our society.

This year, Banks did get a few big opportunities, such as a Big 4 PPV match against Rousey and a Women’s Tag Title victory, but WWE doesn’t seem to follow through with anything bigger. That must be disappointing, and we’ve seen plenty of superstars use this as motivation to shine elsewhere. Banks may, perhaps, be wondering if there’s a way for her to make a bigger impact on this world with her voice and her talent elsewhere. It must be frustrating, and it’s hard to imagine what she’s going through.

Sasha seems to be taking some time off and that should be the best, but we’ll see how WWE responds. It’d be a huge risk for Sasha to leave a steady paycheck and position at the largest wrestling promotion in the world, especially since it seems harder for women to find opportunities outside WWE than it is for men.

However, Banks is plenty talented and would likely find a way no matter what. We’ll see how serious WWE is about reassuring Banks, because while they have a vast number of talented women on their roster, they have shown that they do value individuals, such as The Revival. Perhaps they’ll go out of their way to show Banks that they’re willing to meet her where she is, but fans can be forgiven for being cynical about WWE’s intentions.

And while it is true that some wrestlers have been booked worse than Banks, everyone should have a chance to feel like they are in control of their own destiny. If a wrestler like Sasha Banks is willing to speak out or making their feelings clear when they’ve had enough, the fans should stand by them. As John Oliver warned us, being a pro wrestler is hard enough as it is.