Behind-The-Scenes News On What AEW Talents Are Being Told About Sasha Banks

The presumed unveiling of the post-WWE iteration of Mercedes Varnado, the now-former Sasha Banks, is just hours away at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 17. Naturally, as it comes down to the wire, some additional details about her situation got reported on Tuesday night, with Sean Ross Sapp hashing out the details at Fightful Select.

Most notably, Sapp reports that all of the AEW talent that he's spoken to in trying to suss out if Varnado will be Saraya's mystery tag team partner on next Wednesday's night's edition of "Dynamite" has been "no-sold" when they asked if that was the case. They were all under the impression that Varnado is indeed the mystery partner, particularly with how nobody's denying it, but one of the talents who spoke to Fightful made sure to note that since she wasn't clear of her WWE contract until Sunday, it's entirely possible that if there is a deal, it's not official just yet.

In an additional wrinkle that Sapp added, one member of the WWE creative team told him that until news broke of Varnado and NJPW making an informal deal for her to appear for the promotion (and sister promotion STARDOM) in 2023, they were of the understanding that she would be available to be booked in the Royal Rumble later this month. That obviously changed after it became clear that the NJPW deal was a reality.

Varnado is expected to issue a challenge to the winner of the match between KAIRI (formerly Kairi Sane in WWE and previously Kairi Hojo in STARDOM) and Tam Nakano at Wrestle Kingdom, which is for KAIRI's IWGP Women's Championship. KAIRI defeated Mayu Iwatani in a tournament final to become the first champion at Historic X-Over, an NJPW-STARDOM joint event, on November 20.