Naomi addresses she & Sasha Banks’ 2022 walkout on ‘WWE: Unreal’
One of the two primary focuses of the second episode of WWE: Unreal’s second season was the 2022 departure of Naomi and Sasha Banks and Naomi’s triumphant return, punctuated by her women’s Money in the Bank match win in 2025.
Naomi said she really didn’t want to talk about it, but then did, saying that “A lot that happened that day at work that led us to leave…like literally walk out.”
Footage of Banks, now Mercedes Mone in WWE, was shown on camera but was barely referred to by name with creative team member Ed Koskey calling Banks “her partner.” In discussing the situation, Koskey also said there was a “different head of creative and different head of talent relations” without mentioning the names Vince McMahon or John Laurinaitis.
Current head of creative Paul Levesque said that he wasn’t involved with main roster talent then and that “They had enough and they left.”
Then the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, the two left an episode of WWE Raw before the show after a creative disagreement. Both were eventually released with Naomi heading to TNA in a move that revived her career and eventually brought her back. Banks became Mone and eventually signed with AEW where she currently wrestles.
“I needed to stand up for myself not as Naomi but as Trinity,” Naomi said, adding that for the first time in her life and career, she was unemployed and unsure what to do next.
“It was a difficult and scary time for me,” she said.
Levesque later added that similar to the R-Truth situation that was also covered in the second episode, they never wanted Naomi gone from WWE and always felt like it was her home which was a “big driving force to get her to come back.”
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.