Report: Sasha Banks’ WWE departure confirmed to have been negotiated “months ago”

As previously noted, Sasha Banks (Mercedes Varnado) will be in attendance for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 and there is speculation about Sasha possibly being Saraya’s mystery partner on the January 11th 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite in Los Angeles.

Fightful Select noted that while WWE hasn’t officially announced anything, it was confirmed to the outlet that her exit from the company was negotiated “months ago” around the time that it was first reported back in June. The site also noted the following…

“It was also reiterated to us that Sasha Banks was able to take wrestling related bookings on January 1, something that Fightful Select reported this past fall. When we asked if that was ‘contractual,’ we were told that it was, and were informed that WrestleCade was far from the only wrestling-related operation to make attempts to book her, with The Big Event being another convention that those close to her claimed was interested.”

Some conventions reportedly considered the idea of rebranding themselves as “entertainment” conventions in order to book her prior to January 1st 2023.

It’s believed that Sasha signed with NJPW in November. There is no word yet regarding any possible AEW appearances.