WWE has only proven Sasha Banks and Naomi right since they both walked

(Offers tea to everyone coming into the chat)

Hello humans. My name is Candice. Welcome to the LTW (Let Them Wrestle) TED Talk. You may all be seated at this point and time. You’re so huggable.

So, before we get started in here, like the Black Eyed Peas said, let’s all take a deep breath. 3… 2… 1.

Inhale. Now Exhale.

Alright. Let’s proceed, humans. I’m sure you are all huggable humans.

You are!

So, you all know when news broke about Naomi & Sasha Banks walking out of WWE a couple of weeks back?

Why? Why did they walk out? Somebody talk to me!

How did we get here, humans? Hmm? Cause and effect, people! Cause and effect! What is it?

Everybody do me a good favor and go to Dictionary.com for me. Ok? I’m telling you do this for a reason.

Now type in “Cause and effect” for me please (without the quotation marks). Now, what does it say?

What does it say?!

“Noting a relationship between actions or events such that one or more are the result of the other or others.”

A-ha! Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute now!

“Noting a relationship…”

Whoa. Whoa! Hold up! Stop right there! New tab everybody. New tab! A Relationship meaning, “a connection, association, or involvement.”

A relationship as in, “an emotional or other connection between people:”

Ha ha! Oh, Let’s continue, please.

“…A relationship between actions,” Like reportedly booking Naomi to go after a solo title while being in a tag team championship reign and then losing?!

Mhm, mhm. (writes that down)

“…or events such that one or more are the result of the other or others.”

Alright, ladies, gentlemen, and all of my non-binary huggable humans. Let’s check this list right quick. Shall we?

  • Did WWE so much as attempt to set up a set of substantial circumstances that would cause one or more parties (tag teams, both current or forming) to have tension with the tag team champions of Sasha Banks & Naomi? (They used to call them storylines)

(Checks my notes) No.

  • Did WWE make any effort to create and build quality, and believable female tag teams that would build multiple storylines with and without those titles?

You know, MCU style. A multiverse of storylines, so to speak.

(Checks again) No.

And no WWE, I’m not talking about throwing random people together and making a team without little to absolutely no storyline and/or prior history! That’s not what I’m talking about. That’s not how this works!

That’s not a real tag team. That’s picking two people’s names out of a hat and telling them they have to work together. Those are two different things.

  • Did WWE make any real attempts to even build the history of the WWE women’s tag team titles?

You know, build its prestige.

No!

But, hold up yall. Wait a minute! There’s more on this list! (Clears throat)

  • Did WWE even hint at putting effort towards backstage segments, creative in-ring or recorded segments, fights, and online content to build the pressure since 2020? Like so.

No!

  • Were there any major dilemmas, drama, passion, shocking moments, twists and turns, conflict, and tension? All of which are crucial ingredients in having real storylines.
  • Any mystery’s that kept audiences guessing?!
  • Did WWE work to build a Goddess-level tag team that felt virtuously unstoppable with the team of Naomi & Sasha Banks?

Like Thanos, or Roman Reigns, except with two people and both are women. Making them powerful and dominating. Beautiful And Dangerous! See what I did there?

You already know the answer. No, No, and No!

(Mariah Carey voice) I can say it en español. Noo!

No in every language! The no’s were all across the board on this list!

All of the things that could have been done to make those titles worth more, matter more, mean more, and WWE failed to do a single one of them! Especially in the past two years.

And it wasn’t because they couldn’t do it. It was because they didn’t want to!

WWE creative had no real long-term plans for those titles and over the years that became more and more apparent and 2022 ended up being its breaking point.

Now, what was the breaking point, again?

Two women who gave way more damns about its existence than the powers that be and wanted more for those titles and its division than WWE were willing to give them or those titles.

Naomi and Sasha Banks cared. Company officials didn’t. Ergo, they walked.

You get it? Cause… and effect!

Now, what has happened since then?

A tournament to determine the next WWE women’s tag team champions. Ah yeah! I Remember that.

Oh. But, wait. (Looks around)

Where did that tournament go again? Oh, it disappeared and we haven’t seen or heard about it since? Oh yeah. That’s right. (Writes that down)

Because, again, they really had no real plans for those titles or that division right. So, those titles are practically worthless, right? Right.

(Checks my notes) And those titles were “vacated” back in… May? May 20, 2022, to be exact. And those titles still don’t have new champions and it’s almost August? Hmm… (Writes that down too)

Can’t forget the repeated shots on commentary and segments.

And oh yeah, I almost forgot. WWE yanked down all their WWE merch too and their Facebook pages.

Not to mention WWE’s attempts to brand them both as being “unprofessional.” Hmm, hmm, hmm.

Two Black women being branded “unprofessional.” That’s not suspect at all (I hope you hear the sarcasm in that). It’s giving… undertones. Yeah! That’s what it’s giving.

Is it hurtful and damaging for anyone to be labeled “unprofessional” in any profession, whether it’s subtly or blatantly stated? Yes.

But, It definitely holds more weight when it’s placed on someone of color. Especially when it comes to Black women.

Not that long ago, actress Janet Hubert was just saying something similar to Will Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion after what happened to her.

 

It’s difficult enough just being Black and existing.

Let alone being a Black woman and existing in a workplace with a bunch of ignorant, out-of-touch, appropriating, prejudiced, and/or just straight-up racist people who have white privilege and double standards on their side whether they know it or not.

Wrestling is no different. Watch them say, “Oh, stop complaining. All y’all do is complain.”

“Just work harder,” they say. “Just shut and [Dribble, Wrestle, etc],” they say.

Please don’t demand better treatment. Especially, if you’ve been there longer or as long as [Name the person] and they’ll hit you with lines like, “You’re lucky to even be here.”

And that last one is the one both Trinity (Naomi) and Mercedes (Sasha) have repeatedly been hit with by fans in particular. Especially with social media.

Like Black and Brown wrestlers are supposed to just continue to take and tolerate the literal crap that they’re given and have to deal with over and over again.

Knowing full well if it was them, they wouldn’t tolerate that same kind of disrespect. But, then again, they don’t have those same fears either.

And when someone Black does decide to stop taking the bull ish, they’re more likely to be faced with punishment, being fired,  and/or being shut out from the whole industry. Or, at the very least, attempts to have them kicked out of the whole industry.

And I think that’s exactly what WWE were going for with having Corey Graves call them unprofessional on commentary.

WWE did their best to try and turn the fans against Sasha and Naomi. (And it didn’t work!)

It’s like walking on eggshells or broken glass every single day Black people go to work.

One false move of rebellion and we run into stuff like this. Future-endeavored, basically.  It’s just the reality. A reality that’s being played out in real-time with Naomi and Sasha Banks.

But, their lucky to even have a job, right? (Sighs)

Alright now, everybody take a breath again. Breathe in for me. Inhale. Now exhale.

I know that was a lot. Now that we’ve done that, let’s proceed with this last bit.

So, at this point, everyone in their right mind knows that Naomi & Sasha Banks were completely justified in walking away. When you look back, something was bound to go down between the three parties eventually.

I just don’t think anyone expected it to go like this. But, here we are.

But, who could really blame them?!

Sasha had all of those 2.5-second solo championship reigns WWE gave her as if she wasn’t worth the same kind of lengthy, or lengthier, title reigns that the rest of her four horsewomen peers received.

Let alone other women in her division who, compared to her, are either mediocre or basic, at best, in the ring.

Now I would be messy and throw out names, but I’ll be nice this morning. (Sips)

Anyway, WWE did it to Sasha Banks time after time after time. Now we have a women’s tag team title mess.

And she’s one of the women that fought to bring those titles back to begin with, remember?

 

“We have The IIconics, Mickie [James] & [Alicia] Fox, we have Absolution… There’s just so many teams and you know, we have tag team matches on RAW every single week without titles, so why not make tag titles to fight for?” – Sasha Banks // Conversations with Maria Menounos.

What did she say on the Broken Skull Sessions?! What did she say?!

“Before I was a super fan just thankful to be here, thankful for my hot dog, thank you for my pizza, thank you for my time, my TV time.

But there comes a point where you can be thankful, grateful and blessed, but they have to know there’s a chapter after that and that’s where I’m at, on a whole different level.”

That was Sasha Banks on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions. That was just last year! She was trying to tell us!

It hasn’t helped that WWE has been doing the bare minimum with the women’s division both on RAW and SmackDown for the past couple of years.

The past two years has basically been the Diva’s era all over again without the bra and panty matches and pillow fights. The bare minimum! Maybe a few real wrestling matches that are longer than a blink of an eye. But, that’s been about it.

Eventually, as she was saying, there comes a point where you get tired of being happy just to be there, and with women in any industry, it’s even more crucial. We’re trying to move forwards, not backwards. That’s the whole point.

This meant something to Sasha. It’s not like those titles had the best treatment during it’s first inception. The women’s tag team titles were the perfect thing to build something new for the modern-day women’s division.

Especially around Sasha Banks & Naomi! It had potential! It was right there!

And Naomi? Oh, let’s go there because she’s basically in a very similar position!

If I recall correctly, and I do, Naomi is the same woman who was the inaugural WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal and never even got her trophy. Let alone a title opportunity from winning that battle royal… or something.

Sure, it was a terrible-looking trophy. But, still.

You would’ve thought they would’ve done more with her being that she was the first-ever winner. But, anyway…

The same woman that still built a passionate fanbase organically despite her extreme lack of real opportunities and championship pushes. Let alone, championship reigns.

Why? Because her athleticism and wrestling talent still shined through all of that.

The fans saw her potential to be at the top the same way they did with Kofi Kingston. Which is why we root for her the way we do!

Yes, I said, we. Me being one of them. This is a Pro-Naomi/Trinity platform!

Naomi fans weren’t just screaming Naomi Deserves Better for no reason! We screamed it. and continue to scream, because it’s the truth!

Hard to tell what Naomi’s first main roster championship reign would’ve been because WWE idiotically cut it short over an injury that didn’t even necessarily call for her to give up the title entirely.

We’ve seen WWE work around an injury with other wrestlers. But, Naomi had to relinquish hers? Ok WWE.

Yes, they gave it back to her at WrestleMania 33. But, still. But, three of her title defenses where with flippin’ Lana.

And it’s no offense to Lana! She seems like a huggable human. She really does. They’re obviously cool with each other.

But, to stick her straight into a championship opportunity out the gate with little wrestling experience was a complete bs call.

There were better ways to officially debut Lana than the way they did and then give her three championship opportunities against Naomi?! Three?!

Naomi deserved better than that!

Hell, Lana deserved better than that. Her losing all three of those opportunities didn’t exactly help her either. It benefited no one involved. It was a waste of booking!

WWE had chance after chance after chance to pull the trigger on her, to build into what she should’ve been in WWE a long time ago, and they didn’t. Maybe she was the wrong complexion for them. Hmm…

Alexa Bliss one time, Lana three times, Charlotte Flair one time, and an unnecessary championship loss to Natalya at Summerslam (2017). That was basically her reign.

They would give her empty pushes just to temporarily satisfy her fans and make her fans think they were truly going to push her this time, but nope. They would yank her right back again.

And even when she had a championship reign, they still gave her crumbs!

I’m seeing people, especially on a lot of these wrestling blogs, getting into a really bad habit of leaving all of this out of the story!

Naomi’s story is just as much of a factor in the walkout as Sasha’s. No disrespect, but not on this platform!

Remember, this is a WWE veteran! Naomi is a WWE veteran! One of the best, most athletic, and innovative women’s wrestlers they have!

Over ten years in the company! So that’s over 3,650 days. And they’ve given Naomi crumbs a large majority of the time. Yall don’t think Naomi had a right walk out too?!

Do yall really think that Naomi really needed Sasha Banks to “persuade her” to walk on a company that’s done her dirty virtually her entire wrestling career?!

Again, that’s over three thousand days?! So, yall really think Sasha Banks “manipulated” Naomi into walking out of that company?

If you really think that, you got to be stuck on all kinds of stupid.

Attending Stupid Booty University, studying Stupidology, just sipping on that stupid juice! Juice 45, if you will. Just sipping on the gosh dang kool-aid!

Naomi just been taking it and taking it and taking it.

She constantly worked on her skills, creating new moves, doing what they told her to do, staying unproblematic, putting over these girls for WWE creative that aren’t even on her level or even close, and just continuing to move forward in spite of.

Just taking it and taking it and taking it and taking it! Doing her best to not rock the boat.

Well, a person can only take so much.

Naomi walking out on WWE had nothing to do with ego. It was more than just the creative direction of the women’s tag team division. It wasn’t just about her and Sasha Banks’ tag team championship reign.

For Naomi, It was just the final straw!

Oh, and speaking of the final straw. we can’t forget to talk about WWE’s really nasty habit of placing Naomi in tag team after tag team after tag team for little to no reason and then these teams would never go anywhere!

(DMX Voice) It was Carmella and Asuka, Lana and Sasha.

To be honest, there are probably more. But, those are just the ones that come to mind.

However, Naomi & Sasha made the most sense.

  • Two former members of Team B.A.D.
  • Both have mainstream appeal!
  • Both are very talented women in the ring!
  • They definitely have chemistry together.

They were what the WWE women’s tag team needed! It was right there! In their hands! Money, talent, star power, quality, athleticism, fanbase, mic skills! Like, seriously!

They could’ve charged up both the women’s divisions and the women’s tag team division! Added some pizzazz for heaven’s sake!

So many possibilities to really develop and mold those titles for a bigger and better future it and all the women! Naomi and Sasha were the best women for WWE to do that with! But, WWE failed! They failed all these women!

They failed Naomi. They failed Sasha Banks. They failed the women’s tag team division (if you even want to call it that, at this point). They failed those women’s tag title belts from the start,

So, that’s one, two, three, four L’s? That’s not even counting the men’s tag team division as of late. So make that five L’s.

I’m quite positive they got more L’s, but hey. I only have two paws honeybuns.

Anyway, since then, signs have pointed to both of them being on the way out the door one way or the other.

From WWE going out of their way to bury both Sasha Banks and Naomi on commentary and damage their reputations before WWE eventually kicks them to the curb to WWE putting out that bogus statement that didn’t even do them any good. WWE editing Sasha Banks out of stuff.

That’s on top of the bio changes on both Trinity Fatu’s (Naomi) and Mercedes Varnado’s (Sasha Banks) social media profile changes.

So, now what?

Well, I don’t see either of them changing their minds and staying in WWE. That’s for sure.

What will either of them do outside of WWE? Will either of them wrestle again? Honestly, that’s completely up in the air right now.

My gut feeling is Sasha Banks will focus on other projects for a while and maybe return to wrestling at some point down the line.

It’s kind of hard for me to speculate on exactly where she will end up.

But, I got a big feeling she’ll end up being in Japan.

She’s talked about loving Japanese wrestling before. So, don’t be shocked. This could be her chance! The female Finn Balor of NJPW! Oh yes! I’m seeing it!

She might go AEW. But, I’m not sure if it’ll be a long run. They’re no better with their women’s division than WWE, in my opinion. Or their Black talent, regardless of gender.

Yeah, we didn’t forget about that Big Swole, Lio Rush, Tony Khan situation!

As for Naomi, her path is much more unclear.

On one end, She could go off and wrestle wherever the hell she wants with whoever the hell she wants!

The possibilities! Think about it. She’s only ever wrestled in WWE.

FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling). NXT, WWE main roster. That’s all WWE. She’s never wrestled anywhere else. This all might be a blessing in disguise for Naomi.

I think her branching out beyond WWE and wrestling a little bit of everywhere would be a good thing for her and her continual growth as a wrestler. Not to mention the exposure.

I’m thinking WOW (Women of Wrestling), The NWA (National Wrestling Alliance), IMPACT, or Ring of Honor.

She could go off and grow and put on the best matches of her career until she eventually retires.

And we all know good and damn well WWE doesn’t deserve her retirement anyway!

However, we can’t ignore the other end — The likelihood of Naomi leaving wrestling behind altogether and also going off to do other projects.  I feel like that’s very, very possible and I couldn’t say I fully blamed her.

Unfortunately, as a wrestler of color, and as a female wrestler of color at that, there’s no real guarantee Naomi will be treated any better in other promotions. It’s just the reality. It’s a tough road. Tough road in deed.

I hope Naomi chooses the first end.  But, their both grown women. It’s completely up to them and we have to respect whatever their decision ends up being.

Let’s see what happens.

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