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HARPER WANTS OUT OF WWE, BANKS MAY TOO

WWE star Luke Harper made a statement via Twitter, in which he requested to be released from his contract. This was shortly after Sasha Banks, who had only just seen her storyline with Bayley come to an end as Women’s Tag Team Champions, also allegedly asked to be released from the promotion. Corey Graves offered the promotion’s version of the story on Monday Night Raw when he accused Banks of having taken her ball and headed home. Banks, however, has been given some time to reconsider by WWE bosses. When situations such as this have occurred in the past, the process turned out to be something of a crapshoot. This is a different situation, however, with All Elite Wrestling’s first show just weeks away. Wrestlers have wanted to leave WWE before; it’s nothing new. Getting out of their contracts, however, has proven to be a difficult prospect indeed.

Barrios makes it clear

Fans of WWE just might be getting turned off by stars continually demanding to leave, and certainly, those who enjoy the occasional flutter, with crazy storylines potentially leading to increasingly unlikely outcomes. There’s no shortage of other sports for them to turn to, however. Then there are other forms of entertainment, of course, such as gaming, whether it's their favourite WWE console game, of even wrestling-inspired video slots. You can discover more here on the latter. Of course, the WWE isn’t rolling over just yet. As usual, there will be many more twists and turns to come. WWE Co-President and CFP George Barrios told those who attended Needham Growth Conference 2018 that both parties were in a position to terminate their WWE contracts but that it has to be a situation that benefits everyone. It has become clearer in recent years, however, that it doesn’t work like this in reality. That was made clear when Ray Mysterio, Daniel Brian, and Neville’s contracts were all frozen.

There were various circumstances involved in those cases, as you would expect. Neville simply wanted to leave, and found himself with a 12-month freeze-out. Bryan was frozen out indefinitely when he wasn’t cleared to perform, and, as for Mysterio, that was simply the case of an expired contract, although it was extended by Vince McMahon based on Rey’s time off due to injury. 

Banks staying tight-lipped

Luke Harper is pushing 40 years of age, and although he has plenty of upside, having been somewhat wasted by WWE up to this point, he likely feels that making a noise in public might give him the upper hand in getting what he wants from WWE. It isn’t at all the same situation with Sasha Banks, however. Aside from a confusing Tweet, she hasn’t said much at all in public. While she was initially the poster girl for a rebranded women’s division, she hasn’t been in the title picture for some time.

Banks further spent an entire year in the middle of a crazy storyline with Bayley that somehow seemed to devalue both parties. An attempt was made to salvage that disaster by having the two women become WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. Of course, then they lost their belts at Wrestlemania before they had a chance to establish the title as something worth having. Banks could be forgiven for thinking that WWE doesn’t know how to best utilise her. WWE, however, will do whatever it takes to keep Sasha Banks on their books. Unlike the others, she may not choose to remain quiet should they attempt to freeze her out. In this day and age, she would have no problem getting any attention from the media should she wish to.

 

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