While it may not come as a surprise, former 4x Women’s Champion Sasha Banks has apparently requested her release from WWE following WrestleMania 35 due to frustrations over losing the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles to The IIconics. While her issue isn’t with the IIconics themselves, reports from both Wrestling Observer and Fightful.com imply that Sasha Banks (and to an extent her partner Bayley) were expecting a lengthier tag team reign than just 49 days in an attempt to legitimize the new women’s tag team titles – something both had campaigned for nearly a year – and be seen as a major threat in the division. Instead, they lost their titles in only their second title defense, following winning the belts at Elimination Chamber this past February.
While the tag team situation at WrestleMania 35 may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, it can hardly be the sole reason for her growing unhappiness in WWE. Despite being a four-time Raw Women’s Champion in WWE, her combined reign as Champion is a mere 72 days, with 27 days her longest run on top (and 8 days her shortest). Those kinds of numbers are more in line with Mick Foley‘s championship runs as an in-between/transition champion during the Attitude Era than legacy building reigns like other women like Charlotte Flair or even Alexa Bliss has enjoyed.
Fightful.com has stated that their sources have said that WWE has asked Banks to take some time to think on her decision, thinking it may be an impulsive reaction and that they can turn things around as they did with The Revival, who made similar frustrations known earlier this year. It is believed that WWE will most likely deny her request. Sasha signed a new contract with WWE in May of 2018, believed to be a multi-year deal, so if WWE doesn’t grant her request, she may find herself in a similar situation to former WWE Superstar Neville, who sat out nearly a full year after walking out on the WWE in October of 2017, before returning to the indies in October of 2018 as PAC. The news comes just days after Banks posted a cryptic tweet on her Social Media suggesting that she wanted to feel “that magic” once again.
— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) April 9, 2019
Sasha Banks began her wrestling career in the US indies, starting out in her home state Massachusetts with Chaotic Wrestling in 2010. As Mercedes KV, she Chaotic Women’s Champion and also competed with New England Championship Wrestling (NECW), Beyond Wrestling, and others, before signing with WWE in 2012.
