It looks like if WWE can’t have Banks and Naomi, no one can.
WWE have many provisions in their WWE contracts. Fans know very well the terms in regard to no compete clauses and some may even have contractual obligations like a possible public image etc. Naomi and Sasha Banks walked out on RAW earlier this week and were indefinitely suspended on SmackDown. With the suspension came speculation around the pair’s WWE contracts.
Dave Meltzer reported on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio that there are provisions in both deals that allow WWE to suspend them and freeze their contracts if they don’t show up for work. How long that could last is anybody’s guess.
“Naomi’s contract did not have much time left. I think it was about two months. As we’ve talked about, she was negotiating a new deal. Based on the wording of their contracts, WWE has the right to suspend and freeze. Now, would that hold up in court? I don’t know. Will they challenge it in court? I don’t know, but based on the contracts they signed, if you fail to perform and we suspend you, we can also freeze your contract.”
“So, in the case of Naomi, for example, had she gone out and just finished and got fed up, she could’ve just let her contract expire and gone anywhere she wanted to go. I don’t know the date of Banks’ expiration. What she’s going to do, we really don’t know what she’s going to do next. If she wants to be in wrestling, there’s options to make money and there’s options to test yourself as an artist and not make as much money if she chooses to do that. I don’t know that she will, but maybe she will. But, I don’t know what’s going to happen with her. But right now, she can’t do any of those things, so that’s pretty much it and I’m sure they are looking for them to break ranks and for Naomi to come back and Banks to hang out by herself and maybe that will happen and maybe that won’t and maybe they don’t care, maybe they don’t want either of them back. I don’t know, at least for now.”
“I mean, Banks having done it twice, it’s going to be tougher, but, you know, you never say never as far as bringing people back in wrestling. I’ve seen a lot, lot, lot worse and people come back, so, time will tell. I remember the Zelina Vega thing. She was fired and blah, blah, blah, and you know, she was going to be the big poster person for unionization and going to the Screen Actor’s Guild and fighting for everything, and then the next thing you know, she’s back… We’ll see what happens.”
Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio
Time will tell if WWE will choose to freeze the pair’s contract while they are suspended. We may hear of both talents requesting release from their contracts, however this would likely be the worst case scenario for the company. We will see what happens in the rest of this saga.
Transcription by Ringside News
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