Backstage Update On Sasha Banks' WWE Status
The latest on Sasha Banks, who has been missing from WWE SmackDown for a month.
WWE absentee Sasha Banks has been cleared to return to the ring.
This is according to Wrestling Inc.'s Raj Giri, who tweeted that Banks' WWE comeback is a simple matter of creative coming up with something for the former SmackDown Women's Champion to do.
Sasha has been missing from WWE programming since the 13 August episode of SmackDown. She appeared to hype a planned SummerSlam 2021 match with Bianca Belair that night, only to be pulled from a couple of WWE house shows (along with Belair) that weekend, with WWE citing "unforeseen circumstances" as the reason.
Banks hasn't appeared since then, though WWE kept advertising the Belair match all the way through to bell time. Becky Lynch ended up taking Sasha's place, defeating Belair in a 26-second return, becoming SmackDown Women's Champion in the process.
Details on Banks' absence from television (and the road - Sasha last wrestled on a 7 August house show) have never been disclosed, though she was backstage for SmackDown's 3 September episode.
Lynch and Belair are currently set to contest the SmackDown Women's Championship in a SummerSlam rematch at Extreme Rules 2021 (Sunday 26 September).