The WWE Monday Night Raw tag-team champions Sasha Banks and Naomi reportedly walked out on the May 16 edition of the show despite being advertised for the event. They were set to take part in a six-pack challenge, along with Asuka, Nikki ASH and Doudrop, and the match was actually set to main event the card. That bout would hastily be replaced with a one-on-one match between Becky Lynch and Asuka, with the winner getting a shot at Bianca Belair at Hell In A Cell.
Asuka would win after giving Lynch the mist-in-the-eyes treatment, but that wasn't the talk of WWE Monday Night Raw afterward. A majority of the focus was on Banks, Naomi, and their choice to take their ball and go home. It's a complicated situation with a lot of moving parts, but here's what fans know so far.
Fightful initially reported that there had been "major changes" to Raw after the tag-team champions, Banks, and Naomi, walked out due to being unhappy with creative for the show. It would later be revealed that Naomi was positioned to win the match, and wasn't booked to interact with Banks in the ring in any way, shape or form as initially had been speculated. "We're told that Sasha Banks and Naomi's issues largely were concerns about the direction of their tag team and the division as a whole," Fightful documented, noting that Banks and Naomi wanted to work ASH and Doudrop at Hell In A Cell instead of Lynch and/or Asuka. Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio also reported that the pair had "(s)ome issues with the contract," going on to say that he believes more will come out on this front soon.
WWE themselves released a statement during the course of Monday Night Raw, declaring that "(d)uring the broadcast, they 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." Corey Graves also had some strong words about the situation, presumably ones that were being fed to him by Vince McMahon via headset. WrestleVotes on Twitter wrote that the walkout itself is just "the baseline of the details" while noting that "both superstars (were) upset at something that transpired" earlier in the day on Monday. This might be related to Meltzer's reporting about Banks and Naomi being unhappy with their contracts.
There's certainly a lot to digest with regards to Naomi and Banks leaving Raw, and as of this writing, neither superstar has made any public comments about the matter. Numerous fans online noticed over the weekend that Banks had unfollowed nearly everyone in WWE, including McMahon, which could indicate that this whole situation was already boiling below the surface for the last several days. This is a strange one, and WWE audiences haven't heard the last of things here. The walkout forced major changes to Monday Night Raw and presumably Hell In A Cell, based on the planned finish of Naomi winning the six-pack challenge. Now fans will be treated to Asuka against Belair at the next premium live event, which should be a banger regardless of how booking got there.