When Nikki Cross told Bayley to “find a friend” for what we now know is a 2-on-1 handicap SmackDown Women’s title match at Extreme Rules this Sunday (July 14), our Tommy Messano wasn’t the only one whose mind went immediately to Sasha Banks. WWE’s marketed Banks and Bayley as a package deal since their legendary TakeOver: Brooklyn match four years ago. Someone telling the Huggin’ half of The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection she needs back-up is designed to trigger thoughts of The Boss.
As usual, there are some open-to-interpretation Sasha Banks tweets for the occasion. This morning, we got these from Sasha and joshi legend/Mae Young Classic 2018 standout Meiko Satomura:
I am so thankful!!! A dream come true ❤️ https://t.co/tTkeyhrBEG
— $asha Banks (@SashaBanksWWE) July 9, 2019
She’s even rocking her trademark purple hair while training with the Sendai Girls Pro crew! Does that mean Sasha is shaking off the rust for a return in Philadelphia this weekend?
If so, Dave Meltzer’s sources at WWE either don’t know or aren’t saying. When asked about Banks on the post-Raw edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, here was the answer:
“There’s no definitive thing either way. It’s - she’s talked about she may come back this summer. I was kind of given the impression she would probably come back this summer. I actually asked today and it was basically that it’s to be determined. So it’s kind of like up to her if she wants to come back. If it was a lock, she’d be back. So we’ll see.”
Which is pretty much what we’ve heard since WrestleMania 35.
We’ll find out Sunday night. Or be back for more interpretation of tweets and translation of Meltz-speak next week, I suppose.