There have been conflicting reports about why Sasha Banks left WWE, though it's widely believed to have boiled down to creative clashes with Vince McMahon and a dispute over money.
Since walking away from the company, Banks - now known as Mercedes Mone - has made her mark on the independent wrestling scene and frequently wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Mone made headlines when she appeared in the AEW All In crowd at Wembley Stadium; had she not been injured during a match for the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship (Mone broke her ankle), the expectation was that she'd sign with AEW and debut at the Blood and Guts episode of AEW Dynamite which hailed from her hometown in Boston.
Since then, Triple H has changed for the better and McMahon has taken a backseat. Could that open the door to a WWE return?
Fightful Select has shared an update on what's happening with Banks/Mone and, it appears there are no longer plans for her in AEW!
"So a lot of times, you'll see me get frustrated with irresponsible aggregation. And that happened very heavily, specifically on Facebook with a Sasha Banks story. SportsKeeda ran an article, and nobody reached out to me or anything to clarify any language, which is always a possibility, but it got aggregated by like dozens of Facebook accounts that said that I claimed that Mercedes/Sasha was demanding huge money from WWE. I have not heard anything of talks with WWE."
"What I said is I heard that the number that she's after is a lot, and if I were WWE, I would pay it. I didn't say who or what kind of talks were happening. And that type of context is very, very important. But I have not heard of any ongoing talks, with them, for a return or anything like that. So, it's a little bit frustrating in that regard, but I haven't heard anything lately. Besides that, the once working plans for AEW and Mercedes are no longer working plans."
Mone may have some contractual obligations with NJPW, but it wouldn't be that difficult for her to return to WWE seeing as she never officially signed with AEW. If she does come back, we'd expect her to be pushed as a top star in the same manner as Cody Rhodes and CM Punk (Banks has also long been a favourite of Triple H's).
Nothing has been confirmed at this stage, but we'll be sure to keep you updated as and when we learn more.