WWE Creative Was Told Quickly After Sasha Banks' Injury She'd Be Unavailable For Royal Rumble

Sasha Banks suffered an injury at a recent live event, and WWE announced January 8 that she would be out of action for a couple of months. However, they were already operating on that assumption.

Fightful Select learned that although the absence was announced Saturday, WWE creative were pretty clear in that Banks wouldn't be available as early as January 3, after the injury occurred that prior weekend. Leading into that Raw, Fightful was told that Sasha Banks wasn't expected for the Royal Rumble, and that creatively the company should plan accordingly. As it turns out, Banks is expected to be out 6-8 weeks. As the timetable indicates, she's not expected to have to miss WrestleMania, and that has been relayed to people of influence in the company, as well.

Smackdown has been hit with significant creative changes of late, as Roman Reigns got COVID, Jeff Hardy was released, Drew McIntyre and Sasha Banks were sidelined with injuries. This has led to a recent shuffle in the roster.

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