Sasha Banks was taken out on a stretcher on the Sept. 4 episode of SmackDown, after Bayley turned on her best friend and Pillmanized her with a steel chair. It was the type of injury angle that would conceivably keep Banks off television for at least the next pay-per-view cycle, if not longer.
But this is WWE, which means Sasha Banks could very well return to television after missing only one episode, just like Drew McIntyre. There is a promo video that has been airing on today’s NFL games on FOX, which includes Michael Cole’s voice announcing that Banks will be back live on SmackDown this Friday (Sept. 18):
WWE has seemingly announced that Sasha Banks will return on #SmackDown next week to address Bayley’s attack on her.
— WrestleNews365 (@365Wrestle) September 13, 2020
These promos ran during the NFL coverage on FOX today.#WWE pic.twitter.com/1niA89Txqj
The promo is ambiguous enough to leave open the possibility that Sasha’s return could be via satellite. We’ll have to wait to see how it plays out, but I still believe there is a non-zero chance that Sasha gets a title match with Bayley on Sept. 27 at Clash of Champions, even though Nikki Cross earned that match. It’s not a likely scenario, but the alternative is for Sasha’s first match with Bayley to occur inside Hell in a Cell on Oct. 25, which isn’t normally where the first match of a multi-pay-per-view championship feud takes place. The calendar takes precedence over storytelling when it comes to scheduling that gimmick match though, so I guess anything is possible.
Do you think it’s too early for a Sasha Banks promo on SmackDown addressing Bayley’s attack, or is this the right time for such a segment?