WWE News: Update On Why Sasha Banks Has Been Kept Off Television
WWE Superstar Sasha Banks has had a limited role on television as of late. It has been a random situation, as she has taken part in house shows, but she’s barely seen on TV. For the most part, she has been MIA. It was rumored before WrestleMania 32 took place that she was going to win the WWE Diva’s Championship, then WWE decided to not only retire the title but also the term “diva.” WWE then brought in a new title called the WWE Women’s Championship, which is not really new but is certainly newer to the “new era” viewers.
Due to the change, it seemed that WWE wanted to keep Charlotte as the champ and had her win the title at WrestleMania. Sasha Banks was clearly the favorite, and she had a good shot to win. The problem was that Charlotte got the best of Becky Lynch in the ring and as Banks tried to stop the pinfall, Charlotte’s father Ric Flair held Sasha where she couldn’t break up the pin. This made many think that we would get Sasha Banks vs Charlotte at WWE Payback.
Instead, we were given Natalya vs. Charlotte, which made no sense to fans. While Nattie more than deserves to be in the title hunt, Sasha never lost, and to have her out of the mix made no sense at all. WWE then started a storyline with Banks and Summer Rae, but it hasn’t really gone anywhere. Now, there’s news on what WWE is doing when it comes to Sasha Banks.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer was asked about the situation on Twitter, and he told a fan she was “working a full schedule, just being kept off a TV program for long-term reasons.”
The rumor is that WWE plans to have Sasha Banks meet Charlotte at WWE SummerSlam later this year, where Banks will win the WWE Women’s Championship. While fans will have no issue with the match happening or Banks winning the match, the reasoning behind keeping her off television is absolutely crazy.
WWE doesn’t want Banks to lose or look weak heading into SummerSlam, which is completely understandable. The problem is, you cannot build a contender up by keeping her off television. Keeping her out of the spotlight only makes fans forget about her or not see her as a threat. To some, it feels like Sasha Banks took her ball and went home because she didn’t win the Women’s Title at WrestleMania.
The best way to build Sasha Banks is to have her go into a program with someone who she can work with for a while. She can then continue to win in another program and eventually run into Charlotte near SummerSlam time. Simply keeping her off television to “protect her” might do more harm than good at the end of the day. Surely, the hardcore fans will cheer for Banks because they know her and love her. A lot of the casual fans do as well.
Then you have the idea that the casuals will cheer for anyone going against the heel Charlotte. The problem is that the casuals need to see people to care about them. By having Sasha Banks off television for months, WWE risks Sasha Banks losing the very audience they try to cater to all the time in the casuals. If WWE loses them for Banks, they have to build her up yet again. The sad part is that fans wouldn’t care if Banks was hurt and then had to miss time. At least we would understand her being out of action for an extended period of time.
With this way of doing things, it sort of ruins the big run Sasha Banks was on. This is also the second time the company has done such things as they had her work limited material until the Royal Rumble earlier this year, where she would attack Charlotte. It feels like WWE wants to do something with Banks involving the Women’s Title or they don’t want her doing anything at all. Meanwhile, they want the same for Charlotte and you cannot have it both ways. This could be why one is on TV every week while the other is MIA most of the time.
[Image via WWE]
