Was Sasha Banks Backstage At SummerSlam?

By PWPIX on August 11, 2019

Is Sasha Banks’ hiatus from WWE coming to an end?

Brad Shepard of Pro Sports Extra reported on Wednesday that the absent WWE Superstar would make her return at SummerSlam.

According to a source in #WWE, Sasha Banks is currently scheduled to make her return this Sunday at SummerSlam.
— Brad Shepard (@TheBradShepard) August 7, 2019

SummerSlam came and went without appearance by “The Boss,” but her return appears imminent since she was backstage. Shepard, however, does not know if she will return this week on Raw or SmackDown LIVE.

Sasha update: She’s there and she brought her ring gear. I’m still not sure if she’s doing anything tonight or one of the other shows in Toronto this week but I’d presume tonight (which was being written during the show itself) is not likely now. https://t.co/zIm5ABZQ74
— Brad Shepard of ProSportsExtra.com (@TheBradShepard) August 12, 2019

Shepard previously claimed last month that Banks’ return to WWE was “imminent” after “everything was smoothed over” a short while before. He claimed that lingering heat between Banks and Alexa Bliss was squashed, with SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley playing peacemaker. Banks is “happy with changes being made” and that her “tantrum is over.”

According to a source in #WWE, Sasha Banks’ return is imminent. I’m told everything was smoothed over the last week or so. She and Alexa squashed everything with Bayley playing peacemaker. She’s happy with changes being made, the tantrum is over – she just needed “a breather.”
— Brad Shepard (@TheBradShepard) July 8, 2019

As far as what Bliss has to do with Banks’ returning, Shepard said their heat had to be squashed before they could share a locker room again.

Ongoing heat between Alexa and Sasha. That had to be squashed before they could be together in the same locker room.
— Brad Shepard (@TheBradShepard) July 8, 2019

Banks hasn’t stepped inside the ring since she and Bayley dropped the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship to The IIconics at WrestleMania 35 on April 7.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer was first to report that Banks tried to quit WWE after feeling “blindsided” over the creative team’s decision to have her and Bayley drop the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35. They were not informed until the day of WrestleMania 35 that they would be losing the titles to The IIconics in a Fatal 4-Way Match that also included the teams of Beth Phoenix and Natalya, and Nia Jax and Tamina.

Meltzer reported in May that Banks had a private meeting with Vince McMahon and that issues between the two had improved. However, he reported last month that her status had not changed since it’s still “to be determined.”