WWE Rumors: Former Women’s Champion Reportedly Signs New Contract With Company
Update: According to an updated version of the WrestlingNews.co story cited below, Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four Weekly clarified that former Raw Women’s Champion Sasha Banks has not actually signed a new contract with WWE, as he was referring to her previous contract during the Wrestling Observer Live episode in question.
After months of drama surrounding her status with WWE and her alleged issues with the company’s creative team, it appears that Sasha Banks will be sticking it out with the promotion for the next few years or so.
As cited by WhatCulture, Bryan Alvarez mentioned on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Live that Banks — who is scheduled to face Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch in a title match on Sunday’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view — signed a new contract with WWE. While Alvarez did not reveal the terms of the new deal, WrestlingNews.co separately speculated that Banks may be “locked in somewhere” around three to five years, due to the nature of WWE’s contract renewals from earlier this year. WhatCulture, meanwhile, added that the deal might be “significantly more lucrative” than her previous contract with the promotion.
As further noted by the latter publication, Alvarez brought up Banks’ contract while he was talking about how there are some WWE superstars who are still unhappy with their status in the company but remain with the promotion because of their love of wrestling. If reports that circulated in April are to be believed, Banks was so unhappy with her creative direction that she tried to leave WWE during WrestleMania 35 weekend. Allegedly, this was because she and Bayley were upset about having to lose their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships to The IIconics at WrestleMania after a rather brief reign as inaugural champions.
Because there’s no stronger connection pic.twitter.com/9bstWR1jxq
— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) September 4, 2019
In the weeks that followed, Banks frequently took to social media to share cryptic updates that hinted at her dissatisfaction with how WWE was pushing her. Per WrestlingNews.co, she also retweeted some posts related to All Elite Wrestling, with the rival company notably signing her friends, Private Party members Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy, to wrestle in its tag team division.
As reported last month by The Inquisitr, Banks returned to WWE programming on the August 12 episode of Monday Night Raw, where she debuted a new look and turned heel by attacking Natalya in the middle of the latter’s promo. While explaining her actions after the attack, “The Boss” referenced the rumors of backstage tantrums and her desire to quit WWE during WrestleMania, though she cited the storyline reasons of being overlooked in favor of Becky Lynch and receiving a lower paycheck at the event as compared to the reigning Raw Women’s Champion.
Aside from Sasha Banks, several other WWE superstars were reported to have signed new long-term deals with the company in 2019. These include Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, who were also rumored to be considering leaving the promotion before they re-signed with WWE in July, per Pro Wrestling Sheet.
