On May 16, Sasha Banks & Naomi walked out of WWE Raw with WWE saying the former Women's Tag Team Champions, "walked into WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis’ office with their suitcases in hand, placed their tag team championship belts on his desk, and walked out."
They were suspended indefinitely on the subsequent episode of WWE SmackDown.
After their walkout, many stars from other organizations offered their support for the duo, with Dax Harwood, who has always spoken highly of Banks and worked with her on aspects of tag team wrestling, being among them.
Always, always, ALWAYS stand up for what you believe in. Fucking ALWAYS!!! pic.twitter.com/rPIuOm6XlT
— Uncle Dax FTR (@DaxFTR) May 17, 2022
Speaking to Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post, Dax explained his tweet of support.
“Cash and I did the same thing and a lot of fans for some reason had decided that we were crybabies and we whined and we should have just done our job and shut up. And that’s hard to read every single day, especially when all we’re trying to do is make wrestling better, make tag team wrestling better, but also to make ourselves better and make our legacy even better," he said.
Harwood and Cash Wheeler asked for their releases from WWE in January 2019. They weren't granted their releases until April 2020.
“If I would have just stuck around and stayed in the same position that we were in there’s no way our brand would’ve grown. So I know exactly what she’s going through, what she’s feeling,” Harwood said. “And she probably was feeling that ‘I don’t feel respected and I could be doing way more and if I continue to stick around I’m going to continue to get pushed to the side.’ And it’s in the contract, just like we are and we still are. We have the option to find other work. And for fans to s—t on her, or s—t on us, because we want better for ourselves and tell us just to shut up and take the money, man that’s hard to read every day so that’s why I wanted to show that support to her.”
FTR would sign with AEW in May 2020 and have gone on to win the AEW, ROH, AAA, and IWGP Tag Team Championships during their run with the company.
Banks was reportedly released by WWE, but there has been no official announcement regarding her status and no further update.
