May 23, 2022 Observer Newsletter: Sasha Banks & Naomi walk out of Raw, Ric Flair returning to the ring
WWE women’s tag team champions Sasha Banks (Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado, 30) and Naomi (Trinity Fatu, 34) walked out during the 5/16 Raw show in Norfolk, VA where they were supposed to be in a six-way main event that would build to each of them challenging for the Smackdown and Raw singles women’s titles on the 6/5 Hell in a Cell PPV show in suburban Chicago.
At the start of the show, it was announced that there would be a six-pack challenge with Banks, Naomi, Becky Lynch, Asuka, Nikki ASH, and Doudrop, with the winner facing Raw champion Bianca Belair at the PPV show. It didn’t make sense that Doudrop, who had not been on television much, and ASH, who had been losing all of her matches, would be in that match while Rhea Ripley, in particular, coming off a win over Liv Morgan, would not. But that’s a minor part of the story.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.