WWE advertised Sasha Banks as Bianca Belair’s SummerSlam opponent right until the match was about to start. It was then announced that Banks couldn’t compete, and it was teased that Carmella would challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Instead, though, a returning Becky Lynch would surprisingly defeat Belair in under 30 seconds. While fans were delighted to see Lynch, many were unhappy with Belair being beaten so quickly and missed out on a WrestleMania rematch between Banks and Belair.
Rumors first started spreading last weekend about the status of the match when last weekend both Banks and Belair were pulled from live shows. At the time, it was described as unforeseen circumstances, and while Belair would return to the ring for Friday night’s SmackDown, defeating both Zelina Vega and Carmella, Banks was not even backstage.
Now Dave Meltzer has stated on his Wrestling Observer Radio show that WWE actually knew a week ago that Banks wouldn’t be able to wrestle. However, they felt it was acceptable to falsely advertise the match as in their mind, they were delivering something better.
There’s no justification for what they did because they false advertised. They knew for a week they wouldn’t be able to deliver the match. The mentality is, well we’ll give them something better, and as a moment they gave them something, as match, they gave them nothing, so whatever, if you come for matches you got screwed, if you come for WWE made moments, then you got Becky’s return.
Dave MeltzerCard subject to change is a well-known term, and when something happens out of the promoter’s control, fans usually understand. However, in this instance, WWE has taken this to a new level by promoting Banks vs. Belair on Smackdown, on social media, the pre-show, and the actual pay-per-view. However, they have a history of doing this previously, most recently promoting Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg at WrestleMania 36, when the event had already been taped, and Reigns had opted not to wrestle.
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