Sasha Banks To AEW Reportedly Happening According To Insider Info

The pro wrestling world finally saw a glimpse of a former WWE star inside the squared-circle when Mercedes Moné (formerly known as Sasha Banks) made her debut at New Japan Pro Wrestling's (NJPW) Wrestle Kingdom 17 event.

It now appears that she is also slated to jump to WWE's biggest rival in decades.

According to DAZN Wrestling's Steven Muehlhause, Mone is also going to perform under All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and will debut at the event as Saraya's (Paige in WWE) tag team partner against Britt Baker and current AEW Women's Champion Jamie Hayter.

While the news seemingly comes out of nowhere, Muehlhause noted that he could not make any major hints on social media at the time due to Mone still being under contract with WWE.

It definitely is a surprising development for one of WWE's top women's stars in the current generation since many were fully convinced that she would not take the leap to AEW at all, instead sticking to NJPW in a program with former NXT star and current IWGP women's champ Kairi Sane.

In this same vein, the move to AEW makes a ton of sense for her career since she has a lot of familiar faces to share the ring with that also graced WWE's hallowed halls.

Saraya is one name, others would be Toni Storm, Mercedes Martinez, Athena (Ember Moon in WWE) and Ruby Soho (Ruby Riott in WWE)–all of which she could face at one point or another.

However, AEW booking Banks in matches against WWE alumni might leave a sour taste in the mouths of some more die-hard AEW fans and so having her take on the likes of Hayter, Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa would be the best for her accomplished career.

The problem now though is the following: Saraya had just announced her partner for the January 11 episode of AEW Dynamite.

In a backstage segment, Saraya announced that she has chosen Storm as her partner due to their mutual issues with Baker and Hayter.

But after making the announcement, Hikaru Shida, who was also in the segment, looked surprised that Saraya chose Storm as her partner and could lead to a heel turn for Shida.

Storyline-wise on next week's Dynamite episode, Shida could then launch an attack on Storm to keep her out of the match just before it happens–thereby allowing Mone to make her debut alongside Saraya.

Rumors of Mone being Saraya's partner had been around the rumor mill for much of the past few months, and AEW may have just set things up perfectly for it to happen.