Over this past week, the internet has been bombarded with rumours and speculation about what exactly is going on with Bayley and Sasha Banks.
Are they unhappy in WWE? Were they really upset about dropping their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships to The IIconics? Is Sasha Banks really going to AEW?
We’ve seen a lot of news flying around from a variety of sources and pro-wrestling newsletters about what has been going on with the Boss ‘n Hug Connection behind the scenes. Every eagle-eyed pro-wrestling fan has been scouring every social media site, looking for potential leads to the mystery of what’s really going on. However, no matter how you look at it, both wrestlers have certainly left a mark on the WWE universe in their short tenure with the company. We can do this simply by looking at the accolades that the pair have obtained since their entry onto the WWE roster. Sasha Banks made her first televised debut on WWE NXT in 2012, and Bayley did so in 2013. In that mere 6-7 years, as of April 2019, they’ve accumulated x5 Raw Women’s Championship reigns, x2 NXT Women’s Championship reigns and as of March 2019, they became the first WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions in the company’s history. This alone would be enough for many in the WWE Universe to be confused as to why they wouldn’t be happy in the company. As the WWE are more than willing to remind us, Kofi Kingston had to wait 11 years to become WWE Champion, Alicia Fox has been on the main roster of WWE since 2008 and had one reign as Divas Champion back in 2010, and Zack Ryder joined WWE back in 2005 and he hasn’t even won the big title yet. So, what do Banks and Bayley have to complain about?
A mere 2 months after The Boss ‘n Hug connection made history with their tag title win, they dropped the championships to Peyton Royce, and Billie Kay – better known as The IIconics, at Wrestlemania 35 in a shock finish. This is where all the rumours of their displeasur WWE started. The Wrestling Observer and Fightful.com were thefirst to obtain information from their sources and conclude that Banks in particular “was done” with the company, and allegedly tried to quit WWE over Wrestlemania weekend once it was made clear to the pair that they would be losing the titles. When you consider their previous accolades, and the fact that Banks was recently nominated as a Match of the Year candidate at this year’s Royal Rumble Pay Per View against Ronda Rousey, this short title reign for the pair.
The pair have been a huge part of revolutionising the women’s division, alongside the likes of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. With the amount of wrestlers on the WWE roster, it is always going to be impossible for everyone to have their spotlight, however as the WWE universe has made clear – the way in which Bayley and Sasha Banks have been treated has resulted in them being shoved to the back of everyone’s mind. Compare their last 6 months of booking with that of the two aforementioned women and it is clear there is a stark contrast. Even before Sasha and Bayley became a tag team, Bayley particularly was being held back in gaining a push in the way her fellow Four Horsewomen companions did. It was only once WWE decided to place them in a tag team that they began gaining more support from the WWE universe.
On April 14th 2019, there were widespread reports that Sasha Banks had unfollowed WWE and then followed AEW, perhaps in a stunt to remind WWE that she can go elsewhere, should she not be treated the way she feels she should be. The storyline that Sasha and Bayley have garnered through their social media accounts since the reports of their unhappiness surfaced seems to have suggested that they are likely going to be staying at WWE for the time being. WWE have a recent history of unhappiness of roster members coming out, resulting in them gaining more attention, and therefore more chance of exposure. For instance, we only need to look back at The Revival, who after numerous defeats for the Tag Team Championships back in January 2019, reportedly expressed their desire to leave. The result of this? They became WWE Raw Tag Team Champions on February 11th, beating Bobby Roode and Chad Gable. This was their first tag title win. As of Tuesday 16th April, it was announced that Bayley would be making a “new start” on Smackdown, so although we probably won’t see another tag title chase for a while from the two, there is always a chance of them being handed separate championship opportunities.
In the current storyline, Bayley and Sasha Banks are both being portrayed as faces, who like so many other face champions before them, fought tooth and nail to gain the recognition of being the very first tag team champions. Now that this has gone, with WWE being the big corporate machine that it is, Bayley and Sasha Banks now have two options – stay, or to go.
To go would suggest that one of them, or both, will simply not renew their contracts and would presumably go to a competitor. It’s safe to say that due to the current landscape of the pro-wrestling universe, the growing threat of AEW as well as the accumulating rise of popularity in the indie scene, it’s highly unlikely that WWE would grant either of them a release, despite how unhappy they may or may not be. It is also safe to say that we won’t be seeing any shenanigans like when Shawn Michaels began overselling the hell out of every manoeuvre from Hulk Hogan at Summerslam 2005 (due to Michaels displeasure of Hulk Hogan not putting him over) – but if stories and leads continue to come out about their distaste for the company’s management of them, then we might be at least saying goodbye to either of them in the near future.
So in conclusion, to suggest that Sasha Banks and Bayley aren’t justified in being upset with WWE for losing the championship would be to suggest they simply don’t care about their progression. Every wrestler has every right to feel unhappy with the management of their character, primarily because their character, and their story is the difference between a good yearly wage, and a bad wage. There are many news outlets who are discussing what the pair will do next. Neither of them has been necessarily “buried”- far from it, but to discredit the feelings that Banks especially has been reportedly feeling would be to say that she isn’t allowed to not be happy at all. There are many pros and cons to being in WWE, being on the road the majority of the time must be difficult, and if she felt like their championship had been snatched away from them, and she felt like the reign was cut very short- it’s actually only reasonable that she’d at least be upset; kayfabe or not.
Now with the Boss ‘n Hug Connection seemingly put on the shelf, and with Bayley going on to make a “new start” in Smackdown, time will only tell how they will both be treated. Will the rumoured dissatisfaction cause hindrance to any potential championship opportunities now that the Superstar Shakeup has happened, or will they rise to the top on their own?