What To Do About Sasha Banks?

[Wildcat66]

Well...

As much as I hate to say it, but with recent events: I think now is the time for us all to have the talk. As we all know by now, Paige's career has come to an end in the hands of Sasha Banks during a house-show: Before anything else, it should be stated that this was not deliberate, and as far as we know; this was an accident.

However, this is NOT the first time such a thing has occurred; abit under less serious conditions. There was Emma, Alicia Fox and even Alexa Bliss who went down twice because of something Sasha did, it hasn't helped that the IWC has immensely turned their back on her in recent months due to concerns of regressing in-ring work, sloppiness and a rumored bad attitude.

This leads to a question that has to be asked: What do you do with Sasha Banks?

There are five choices, all ranging from severe to minor, rational to irrational, and everything else in between. You either:

A. Depush her and transfer her push to someone else, say Bayley or Alicia, maybe someone from SmackDown.

B. You keep her off TV until the stigma dies down somewhat.

C. You send her back to NXT until she learns how to be safe in the ring.

D. You work with it and turn her heel and Absolution face. (This would also mean either turning Bayley or Mickie heel or dropping them from the storyline all together)

Or E. Do absolutely nothing and face the music, it's likely guaranteed Sasha gets booed for a little while, but who knows for sure?

My opinion: I can see WWE doing option B mainly for the fact that they know injuries are serious business, even if they were an accident. I'm not sure what mental state Sasha is in after what happened with Paige, she might feel horrible and want to take a bit of time off to rethink things.

On the other hand, if WWE is feeling risky; they could pull a Eddie/Rey 2005 and have Sasha and Absolution pull a double turn, but again: Option D is very risky and it could be seen as tasteless if done wrong. This also puts Bayley and Mickie in a state of limbo where they either have to choose a side or leave the storyline entirely.

In conclusion: I can't fully blame Sasha, accidents are bound to happen in the ring and that's fine. However, be it an accident or not, it doesn't change the fact that Sasha ended the career of someone. And given her past reputation: Perhaps a punishment may be in order. It sucks for both parties, but sometimes, that's just how the wrestling business works.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Well...

As much as I hate to say it, but with recent events: I think now is the time for us all to have the talk.

It's true, Jesus *********ed.


A lot.

This leads to a question that has to be asked: What do you do with Sasha Banks?

There are five choices, all ranging from severe to minor, rational to irrational, and everything else in between. You either:

A. Depush her and transfer her push to someone else, say Bayley or Alicia, maybe someone from SmackDown.

Was she even getting pushed right now? There really is no where lower to go other than taking her off TV right now. Right now she is just someone making regular appearances. The only women I see getting pushed on Raw are Asuka, Nia, Alexa, Absolution (sort of), and the ghost of Rhonda Rousey.

B. You keep her off TV until the stigma dies down somewhat.

Terrible idea. This lends credence to the belief that Sasha is dangerous and stigmatizes the remainder of her career. May as well fire her.

C. You send her back to NXT until she learns how to be safe in the ring.

See response to option B.

D. You work with it and turn her heel and Absolution face. (This would also mean either turning Bayley or Mickie heel or dropping them from the storyline all together)

This is a more interesting question. What do you do with Absolution? Neither Mandy or the other still healthy one seam to have much to carry themselves. Good thing the Rumble is coming up and they don't have to have a legitimate feud until that is over. Hopefully for their sakes they will get better and find their own personalities.

Or E. Do absolutely nothing and face the music, it's likely guaranteed Sasha gets booed for a little while, but who knows for sure?

This is the most likely option although I can't see her getting booed that much. Most WWE fans don't care that much. She may get some rude, stupid chants in certain cities but that should die down fast.

I don't care too much what happens. I think I want to see her turn heel and become the new leader of Absolution but that is unlikely. Even better, give Bayley that spot. Probably need to heavily consider how the other women in the locker room feel as part of what decision is made here.

F. Fire her should be an option.

I wonder who gets Paige's spot in the Rumble.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

It was an accident but Sasha has a track record of being unsafe to herself and others.

The only thing they can do that will cause the least amount of backlash is quietly depush her and give her spot to someone who won't work so recklessly. My pick would be Bayley because she's more of a fan favorite than Sasha so you don't have to worry about a double turn falling flat and someone the fans want to see gets a push towards the top.

 

[Dagger Dias]

It's a risky move, but they could possibly pull off a huge turn here. If Paige truly can no longer compete she could become the manager of the Absolution stable while Sasha turns heel. If fans are already turning against her as much as seems to be the case then they have the potential to capitalize on a massive heel turn for Sasha. Heck, some have been wanting to see her go heel for quite some time. Or they could go another route to achieve similar results. If they want Absolution to remain a heel faction then Sasha could take over the group, kick Paige out, and still go through a huge heel turn. Paige could then find a female face to mentor and be her manager. It's worth looking into.

We are more likely to see Sasha get de-pushed. I wouldn't be against her ending up on Smackdown as things were not looking that great for her long-term on Raw even before Paige's injury happened. Keeping her "off tv until the stigma goes away" is probably not going to happen. With some fans they are likely to remain angry with her forever. There's a lot more to this than we as fans would be able to understand since we aren't employed by the WWE. My prayers go out to Paige and even to Sasha, hoping for the best. It sucks so much for everyone involved. Hopefully something good can still come out of the situation. That's just me trying to be optimistic about it. A Sasha heel turn appears to be what has the most potential at the moment.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Screw it, do something interesting with Sasha Banks and make her the boss of Absolution. It's the perfect solution that they probably won't do.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There's a lot more at stake in this than Paige's career, which is itself a big thing.

The movie, that was going to attract a LOT of publicity for the WWE is now going to be negative publicity... all the interviews and promotion is gonna focus on the end of her career in the ring...and any associated issues from it. It will now have one of those horrid cards at the end that say either "Her career ended aged 25..." which is a very bad spot for WWE to go into the mainstream with.

In effect, it likely means the movie gets "downgraded", which is embarrassing for them and Dwayne as the mainstream buzz will be difficult to manage positively and this was a "big deal" for Rock and his company. Putting Paige out to even promote the movie might be a risk to her mental health fielding the inevitable questions while she is mourning her career, all it takes is one rough interview and she could break down etc...

To be clear, Paige herself, will be fine... the public and fans will rally round her like never before, but WWE and Sasha are in for a rough ride as its another young talent injured permanently... questions might be asked if she even should have been allowed back, or even if there was some jealousy on Sasha's part that led to the injury. That doesn't need to be true for it to become a "thing" remember...

So what to do with Sasha, to decide you need to look at what she actually brings...

She has a unique look for sure, she also has that celeb connection with Snoop, so there will be some "politics" there, much as how Otunga kept his job arguably due to the Jennifer Hudson connection, WWE might not want to piss Snoop and his friends off by firing her or publicly demoting her. While Snoop has arguably had his day in WWE, they like to use rappers etc when they can and if he is against them, many will refuse to work with them out of respect. It's a real minefield for WWE that people might not expect.

In the ring, she hasn't delivered what she was expected to... she had potential to be the real "next big thing" but in many ways stagnated after that big Mania with Snoop... did she "peak" too soon and plateau? possibly, but unless they are going to call her a crippler... which isn't going to work for obvious reasons with Bazler and Ronda incoming then it's hard to push her without it seeming she has benefitted from her own dangerous work... arguably Ziggler and Swagger did with Barrett and it left a bad taste for many.

To the fans the precedent is there however on how this should go with Mr. Kennedy... many fans will be quick to call double standards if Sasha is kept exactly where she is... on top of her awful rep with fans already, she has now injured several talents and ended one career albeit inadvertently. If it was enough for Kennedy to be let go after a couple of botches, it's enough for Sasha after ending a career and fans may call BS if she isn't.

The other risk WWE faces is what happens if Sasha decides to "speak out" if they do demote/let her go... she wouldn't be the first to open the lid on stuff WWE would rather keep quiet, and she doesn't seem the sort who would "go quietly" to NXT or leave the company... if she is under contract, she can at least be "controlled" to an extent... in the current climate, you don't want a scorned Diva out there if there's any hint of harrassment etc. in your company and lets face it, WWE has long been known to have that in spades...

The biggest concern is how many of the female talents will be "spooked" now enough to have a problem working with her...and with Ronda incoming, they're not going to risk HER getting injured, much less Asuka or Charlotte, the two most likely to face Ronda at Mania.

So... the solution for the short term, is likely to give Sasha some time off, but not long... perhaps a month to "get her mind right" and to spend some time in the Performance Centre... not as a punishment but as a chance to recharge and perhaps tweak her gimmick for a return in time for Mania. A fake injury would be poor taste, but if you must do an on air punishment, feeding her to Ronda in the Rumble (you know she's gonna be there...) makes sense.

If Paige stays in WWE, then using Sasha as a manager might seem logical for a while, so that their "feud" can be resolved but with others in the ring as their proxies.

Personally, I would say if her attitude is half as stinky as it's purported to be, Sasha will quickly make the decision for Vince if any of the above occur... in which case pay her to sit at home for the duration of her deal and have your shit together for when it expires and she goes on the shoot interview circuit.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Wait and see how much hate Sasha will get. If she gets ulta hate, turn her heel and say that she took out Paige in order to lead Absolution.

If there's no crowd backlash, just continue to do what you do with her. Sasha sells money, from what I understand.

Everybody injures everybody in wrestling. The question is, whether your position is impartant enough to keep your job.

 

[Wildcat66]

Wait and see how much hate Sasha will get. If she gets ulta hate, turn her heel and say that she took out Paige in order to lead Absolution.

If there's no crowd backlash, just continue to do what you do with her. Sasha sells money, from what I understand.

Everybody injures everybody in wrestling. The question is, whether your position is impartant enough to keep your job.

That's basically what it's going to boil down to I think, either you get it one way or the other.

 

[TJ Matics]

She's up first in the Mixed Match Challenge, and her partner is Finn Balor. If there is any heat coming her way from this I doubt we'll be hearing much of it, this could be a huge distraction that could work out in her benefit. They're facing Natalya (snooze) and Shinsuke (who's been wasted on SD so far) so I seriously doubt they won't be advancing. If they were not to I think that'd be the sign that Sasha has indeed caught some major flack over this.

As far as RAW goes, her taking over Absolution is an interesting idea. Sasha just hasn't and won't work as a face for me, she's not convincing and it's always been border line cringe worthy. The only distraction from that was her great feud with Charlotte, once that was gone I soured on her as a face quickly.

I also assumed a Sasha-Bayley feud was coming soon after the Rumble since they've really been hamming up how her and Bayley are the bestest bestest friends ever.

Or they could cool her jets a bit and send her quietly to SD to feud again with Charlotte, with the roles reversed. It wasn't needed so soon but it might be a good idea if they want people to re-recognize Sasha as a top level talent.

So for me all signs point to a Sasha heel turn whether she stays on RAW or not. I keep hearing that even before this fans were souring on her, but to be honest I haven't noticed that at all watching her live. The worst thing they can do is blatantly punish her, I agree with an above poster that you might as well fire her at that point the damage will be done.

 

[andvari7]

There is still no confirmation of Paige's injury, or of her status with the company. The Wikipedia page for the Rumble was updated yesterday to remove her from the event, and the reason why. As of now, she has been added back into the fold. Her most recent Instagram post tells of her triumphant return. We'll know on the coming days, but the one thing that will help nobody is calling for Sasha's head without a good reason.

 

[Khalifa]

Screw it, do something interesting with Sasha Banks and make her the boss of Absolution. It's the perfect solution that they probably won't do.

This is what I was thinking. GSB made a good point in saying you can’t take her off TV or you may as well fire her. I’ve been hoping for a Sasha heel turn since almost Summerslam so I think the idea you said Jeff was great. What a way to turn someone heel, give them some legitimate hate along with that heel hate. Sasha could play it perfectly by saying she is better than Paige and could convince Mandy Rose and Deville (is that the other ones name) that she could take them to higher places than Paige ever could. Sashas character is much better by itself than with a group but this could be the perfect starting point for a Sasha heel turn that we all have (probably just me) been waiting for.

So yeah I wouldn’t do anything to Sasha. Lots of top stars hurt someone but don’t lose their spot so I’m hoping Sasha doesn’t either. Freak accidents happen, if you can’t handle something hitting your neck then why are you cleared to be in the ring. Not that I’m saying it wasn’t Sashas fault but that spot obviously looked like it was well set up before that point, heck they could’ve come up with it before the match meaning Paige could’ve even said you should do this to me. I dunno but I wouldn’t get rid of one of my best workers for a freak accident.

 

[Razz]

Sasha has done that kick to the back move to other wrestlers in other matches I recall without issues. Paige already said on an interview with Lilian Garcia that an outside doctor wouldn't clear her but WWE doctor did. It was ongoing issues not one move that caused this imho. Some wrestlers have died without knowing or confronting their neck/spine issues in the past.

 

[stingray11214]

I cannot believe people are looking to hang Sasha Banks because of Paige's career ending injury. Come on! We are not talking about Yoshiko shooting on Act Yasukawa or Sexy Star shooting on everybody. This was an ACCIDENT in a PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING match. This is NOT Dancing with the Stars. People DO get hurt in Wrestling. I do not believe that Sasha woke up that morning and said "I am going to hurt Paige tonight. Paige was already damaged goods before she even got in the ring. She had Scoliosis, a surgically repaired neck that Paige's parents demanded be fixed and paid for by WWE. And, to top it all off, her own doctor would not clear her! So, why was Paige in the ring to begin with? She WANTED to perform. Paige KNEW the risks. Since Paige was the heel, she was probably calling the match, INCLUDING the kick that Sasha delivered.

So, why then is Sasha being crucified? De-push? De-push her from where? You have Asuka in the way. Send her back to NXT? For what? To job to Aaliyah as punishment? Keep her off TV? Why not just fire her and let her sign with Impact or Women of Honor? Impact will put Sasha on the same level as Gail Kim. Run Absolution? Sure, turn one of the better women wrestlers in the roster into Titus O'Neal with a vagina. Give me a break. I voted to do nothing. Let her stay the course. WWE and Paige knew how bad her spinal column was. They did the right thing by making her retire. And, they will do the right thing by Sasha by letting her stay the course.

 

[ISkye]

The first three options are stupid in the context of reality. I'm sure you can make a hypothetical beyond imagination that makes them cool or something. One of those guys that fantasy book should attempt to play with them.

All for the storyline. Sasha is a better worker than Paige ironically given the context of the situation and better as a heel. Great way to reignite her career if WWE actually took women's wrestling seriously. Or women seriously. They'd totally f** it up. I love WWE and they do some great stuff, but I can't even pretend they handle women and their storylines well ever. If they did this in reality, but it was actually cool and based on reality I'd be a huge supporter and tune into RAW every week for the 1st time in months(Prob. years now). Won't happen.

Eh. Don't do anything and keep doing what they're doing. She went from NXT Women's Champion, Being above even Charlotte in kayfabe often, Main Eventing Hell in a Cell, and being a 4x Raw Women's Champion to literally jobbing to Alicia Fox and being a tool to push an undercard storyline on 205 Live. She's been pretty buried for over a year now or so. She does have a dislikable personality IRL imo and I don't think it helps her being so young and inexperienced. I'm sure she'll eventually be rebounded considering she's literally only 25 and has immense raw talent.

 

[That N Word]

Seeing a lot of "have her replace Paige in Absolution." So basically the message we're sending is if you injure a talent, you will be rewarded with their push? I understand it was an accident, a very careless one, yet still an accident but rewarding her for it with a push? What the hell? Could it be great TV? Sure. Shouldn't happen though as it sends a bad message.

I voted to send her back to NXT trolling but in reality I would keep her ass on TV and let her deal with the backlash. I mean this isn't the first time for her and as I already pointed out, it was simply careless, Ryback level of stupidity on her part.

 

[The Man Of 1004 Holds]

Where to start

1) nothings been confirmed injury wise
2) if it is true and the injury details are true, its an injury that builds up over years of taking bumps and no blame can be attached to Sasha. That would be like blaming Brodus clay for edge's retirement and just ignoring all the years of falling off ladders just because it was the last hit. With this type of injury it will build until it just goes, if it wasn't this spot here it could've been any slam in the next match with anybody. no blame gets attached to sasha for this by anybody with any clue how wrestling works.

as for what to do next, nothing.

I still wouldnt be surprised if Paige is number 30 in the rumble to be honest
and if the worst is confirmed and paige is done and you didnt want her as manager for absolution, id rather bayley led them then sasha

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Seeing a lot of "have her replace Paige in Absolution." So basically the message we're sending is if you injure a talent, you will be rewarded with their push? I understand it was an accident, a very careless one, yet still an accident but rewarding her for it with a push? What the hell? Could it be great TV? Sure. Shouldn't happen though as it sends a bad message.

I voted to send her back to NXT trolling but in reality I would keep her ass on TV and let her deal with the backlash. I mean this isn't the first time for her and as I already pointed out, it was simply careless, Ryback level of stupidity on her part.

It happened before twice for Barrett... Ziggler caused the elbow snap with his dangerous work and got his MITB spot and then Thwagger threw him into the barrier wrecking the second... both guys got pushed in his place, so it does happen in the WWE.

 

[Spencesc11]

Seriously??? No reason to take action against Banks other than maybe having her remove that particular move from her arsenal. Just like Rollins with the curb stomp sometimes it's better to air on the side of safety. I would have Bliss take over as the new leader of Absolution. Make it a big promo tonight that Paige has been injured and Absolution needs a new leader and out comes Bliss. Perfect storyline transfer as she needs the assistance of the those 2 to fend off Nia Jax & Asuka and keep her Title.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

I wouldn't do anything, at least not yet. I don't agree with the notion of capitalizing off a legitimate mistake that ended someone's career.

Even if they do something down the line, I don't think this should be the catalyst for it. If an eventual Sasha Banks heel turn happens, it should be for some other reason. If they want to make a passing mention of the situation to get here some heat somewhere down the line, I guess that would be fine but I'd make that the extent. They shouldn't give it too much attention because assuming all of this is true, there's never gonna be an opportunity for a payoff.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

As far as I'm concern, until WWE confirm the news, the Paige retirement is just a rumor. So right now, I wouldn't do nothing to Sasha until the news is confirmed. After you confirm the news if theirs something to confirm, that's we're you do the heel turn with Sasha, you can play on the hatred for her and even maybe get her to join absolution since they will be a normal progration for the character.

 

[Messiah]

Forget about her, she's a nobody.. Not worth discussing or talking about at all.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Accidents happen but if the list of people you are injuring keeps adding up I think questions need to be asked, You can't have people thats unsafe in the ring ending careers.
Similar to the amount Seth Rollins was injuring including one of my all time favourites Sting who remained relatively injury free his whole career for like 30 years but 10 minutes in the ring with Seth Rollins and his career is over if anyone deserves a depush its him as Sting wasn't the first to be injured by him.
D'Lo Brown's career was never the same after Droz and that was as far as I know the only incident in D'Lo's career, Sad as two promising careers ended that night.
I don't think a one off accident should define your whole career but you can't ignore repeat offenders.
To be fair on Sasha I haven't seen the Paige incident I only know what I read on here for all I know it could have been Paige's own fault and I know she wasn't long back from surgery so I would guess all that has to be taken into account when they consider to depush her or not.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

They need to do with her what they did with Rollins. Reports said that WWE officials and agents had a talk with him, and he agreed to make changes. He has either toned down the usage of or completely removed certain moves due to their risk of injury to other talent.

No one can stop Sasha from ruining her own body. If you wanna be the next Mick Foley and barely be able to walk or the next Sabu and need to put up Go Fund Me pages to pay your medical bills, more power to you. You have a responsibility to your opponent to protect them though.

Accidents happen, but when accidents keep happening, you need to look at the root of the issue.

 

[Vintage Punk]

It was an accident. However, as some have stated, she has a track record ala Seth Rollins. I think they should turn her heel and maybe even use it to get some big heel heat on her. Just disband Absolution anyways as it sucked. Just 3 women thrown together that have nothing in common so no big deal there. With Asuka being the big face and most likely gonna win the Rumble or belt soon, I think Sasha needs to turn on Bayley and also use the extra heat from Paige. Bliss was great on Smackdown but they haven't used her right on Raw at least for past few months.

Honestly, I'd have Asuka win title off of Bliss before the Rumble to make the Rumble less predictable. Then I'd have Sasha win the Rumble making a point to act like she's helping Bayley while in but then throwing her out. Come out next night on Raw and go full heel on Bayley and everyone else.

 

[MAHGAWD]

I say you have her at least wash her socks once in a while..I heard that girl has some stank feet.