Backstage Rumors on Kairi Sane and Booking Plans for Shayna Baszler

– On last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw, Kairi Sane beat Smackdown women’s champion Bayley in a non-title match. It was also reported earlier this week that yesterday (July 20) was Kairi Sane’s last day with WWE before she returns home to Japan. During today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer addressed the situation with Kairi Sane and how it currently pertains to Shayna Baszler and her role on the Raw brand.

While yesterday was supposed to Sane’s last day with WWE, in addition to yesterday’s Raw, WWE also taped next week’s Raw show on Monday. According to Meltzer, the original booking idea was to have Kairi Sane be injured in an angle at the TV tapings. And based off yesterday’s show, the person to injure Sane would likely have been Shayna Baszler.

Now, to be clear, since WWE did tape a second episode of Raw yesterday, it’s possible this angle could still happen on next week’s show. During Sane vs. Bayley, Baszler was shown backstage watching the match and talked about having a vested interest in it.

However, Shayna Baszler coming in to be the person to injure Kairi Sane in an injury angle was actually a backup plan. Per Meltzer, this role was originally meant to be for Natalya, who would play the heel and injure Kairi Sane. It was previously reported late last month by the Observer Newsletter that Natalya and her husband, WWE Producer and former Superstar Tyson Kidd, were asked to stay home and not attend a set of WWE TV tapings after the recent COVID-19 outbreak within the company. Kidd and Natalya both reportedly tested negative for the coronavirus. However, Kidd apparently had a high fever, so they both were asked to stay home as a precautionary measure.

Meltzer said that as far as he knows, Natalya does not have COVID-19. However, WWE has still opted to keep her off the TV programming since what happened last month. Whatever the case is with Natalya at the moment, Shayna Baszler was apparently put in her booking slot as a result.

Additionally, Meltzer noted that at one point the booking plan was to have Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler for the Raw women’s title at Summerslam. However, things are “constantly changing” right now in WWE. As previously reported, yesterday’s tapings were delayed and the show was rewritten into a “completely different show” than what was originally planned.