It all started off simply enough; after seeing a fan hold up a Sasha Banks sign during the Raquel Gonzalez-Shayna Bayzler match to show support for the former multi-time champion, who may or may not have been released from the promotions, WWE opted to photoshop it out of the picture they posted on social media, presumably to keep attention on the women in the ring, not the one who isn't.
Unfortunately, that decision backfired in a pretty big way. Once the folks at Fightful pointed out the photoshop job, which admittedly isn't great but might have gone unnoticed had it not been pointed out, literally thousands of fans took to Twitter to show love for Banks, wish her well in the next stage of her career, and, most crucially of all, clown on WWE for letting go of one of their most popular talents using the hashtag #ThankYouSasha.
Needless to say, if the goal of such an inconsequential photo doctoring was to make things less of a story, it certainly backfired in a massive way.
Does WWE understand Sasha Banks' online popularity?
There would be no Sasha Banks – literally – without WWE.
Though she did wrestle for other promotions before entering the WWE developmental system, wrestling some 50 matches under the name Mercedes KV, Banks learned her craft, developed her look, and literally made a name for herself as one of the great success stories of the pre-television show NXT.
She was part of the BFFs's long before Orange Cassidy used the moniker, became the NXT Woman's champion while Britt Baker was still studying to become a dentist, and had her call-up to the main roster alongside Bayley, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair, who will forever be known as the Four Horsewomen of WWE. Whether tasked with bossing out as a solo performer or in tag teams like The Boss ‘N' Hug Connection, her non-named title run with Bayley, and last but not least, her final run with Naomi, which started with a championship win at WrestleMania and ended with a heated backstage argument that resulted in the duo walking out and earning indefinite suspensions.
Banks took place in the main event of WrestleMania 37, a match that was record-setting for more reasons than one, competed in a three-way title match at Crown Jewel, and through it all, kept promoting the company like a true professional on shows like Hot Ones and with her appearance on The Mandalorian.
If a fan of watching famous people eating hot wings on the internet wasn't also a fan of WWE before – which feels unlikely – Banks' appearance might have converted a few of the 5.89 million people who watched the video into believers.
Has the WWE Universe really seen the end of Sasha Banks? Do Vince McMahon and company really feel like people tune in each week for the brand name, not the people in the ring, and that he can quite literally replace anyone, from “The Fiend” to Braun Strowman, without it affecting the on-screen product, let alone the bottom line? Will the promotion's hubris turn to regrets if Banks – or whatever name she opts to wrestle under – takes her talents to AEW and finally elevates the women's division to heights that it has curiously been unable to reach? Either way, fans might find out soon enough, as a split between the two parties appears incredibly likely at this point.
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