Sasha Banks was a big absence from the Royal Rumble PPV. She did not appear in the Women’s Royal Rumble match. She also didn’t come out to the ring with Bayley for her Smackdown Women’s Championship match against Lacey Evans.
We have an update to pass your way about Sasha.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select (subscribe here), Sasha wasn’t in the Royal Rumble match because she is currently injured. Here is what Sapp wrote:
When asking why Sasha Banks wasn’t in tonight’s Royal Rumble, Fightful was informed that Sasha Banks wasn’t cleared to compete. She’s not wrestled since January 3. We weren’t told the specific injury or the severity of the injury, or even when she’s expected to be back.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider reports that Sasha was originally penciled in for the match over the weekend. This hints that this was a late change:
Sasha Banks was listed as a Rumble competitor over the weekend internally. We are told it appears Kelly Kelly ended up with her slot in the Rumble.
UPDATE: Mike Johnson of PWInsider says the rumor going around is that Sasha is dealing with an ankle injury:
Sasha Banks was internally listed for the Royal Rumble as late as Saturday, but was not cleared to wrestle due to an injury. That is why her storyline of late has been crafted around matches with Lacey Evans being canceled. PWInsider.com has not confirmed the nature of the injury as of this posting, but there was word of an ankle injury making the rounds over the weekend. We have not confirmed that to be 100% the case however.
We will let you know if we hear anything more.
On a related note, here is an update on WWE’s plans for Edge after the Royal Rumble match.