has announced Sasha Banks and Naomi have been suspended indefinitely aftethis week.
During the show, the Women’s Tag Team Champions legitimately left the building after what reports claim was a row over storyline plans, while WWE released a statement shortly after the event didn’t feel ‘respect enough’ as champions.
Now, the company has taken action against the two stars by suspending them indefinitely, while all merchandise has been pulled from WWE’s online store.
When searching for Sasha Banks, the page says ‘Sorry, nothing found’, and doing the same for Naomi leads to a page which reads: ‘You’ve taken a wrong turn and are in Parts Unknown.’
During SmackDown on Friday night, WWE took further steps as veteran commentator Michael Cole addressed the non-storyline issue directly on screen and revealed the duo have also been stripped of the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
In a strongly worded on-air statement, he said: ‘Sasha Banks and Naomi let us all down. The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions walked off the show and walked out of the building during Monday Night Raw.
‘They were supposed to take part in this, the Six Pack Challenge where the winner would be next in line to face Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship.
‘However, Sasha and Noami took the tag team champions into the office of our Head of Talent Relations, left them there and then promptly walked out of the arena.
‘Their actions disappointed millions of WWE fans and their fellow superstars.
‘So, because of what Sasha and Naomi did this past Monday night, they have been suspended indefinitely and we will have a future tournament to crowd the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.’
Banks and Naomi are yet to released an official statement of their own following the backstage incident.
In WWE’s statement , the company claimed Naomi and Sasha ‘walked into WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis’ office with their suitcases in hand, placed their tag team championship belts on his desk and walked out’.
The company continued: ‘They claimed they weren’t respected enough as tag team champions.
‘And even though they had eight hours to rehearse and construct their match, they claimed they were uncomfortable in the ring with two of their opponents – even though they’d had matches with those individuals in the past with no consequence.
‘Monday Night Raw is a scripted live TV show, whose characters are expected to perform the requirements of their contract. We regret we were unable to deliver, as advertised, tonight’s main event.’
