Carmella Says She Wasn’t Cleared For Physicality Following Royal Rumble Match With Sasha Banks

Carmella was on the no-physicality list following her SmackDown Women’s Championship match against Sasha Banks at the Royal Rumble.

Carmella returned in late 2020 to revamp her character to a more Diva-esque persona. Feuding with Sasha Banks, the two would wrestle at the Royal Rumble in what would be the end of the rivalry before Sasha would go on to feud with Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 37.

The early portion of the match centered around Reginald, the athletic performer brought in to be Carmella’s sommelier. Eventually, Reginald’s actions would get him booted from ringside.

Following the referee ejecting Reginald from ringside at the 2021 Royal Rumble event, Carmella went for a suicide dive attempt on Sasha Banks and while Sasha caught her, Carmella did hit her face on the ringside floor.

Speaking on The Bella’s Podcast, Carmella revealed that she suffered an injury that kept her on the injured list and halted her on-screen momentum.

“For people that don’t work here, it’s hard to explain. Because of course, I’m grateful I have a job. I’m grateful that I’m working for this amazing company. Last summer, I was off TV for four or five months, twiddling my thumbs. There was no rhyme or reason for why I was at home. I was just told we’re going to wait to bring you back and do a different story. Then, I kind of revamped my character a little bit. Which is cool, it’s nice to get a new coat of paint.

“Then I came back and had this awesome story with Sasha. I felt like I totally delivered. We had great matches, great promos. I just felt very happy. I felt like I proved myself and then it’s like nothing. So, there’s really no reason. Well, I actually was not cleared for a little while after our match at the Royal Rumble. I dove out of the ring… and I just kind of jacked my back up. So, I wasn’t cleared for physicality, but I could still be in a storyline but it just didn’t work out and I just kind of sat around after having what I thought was a great feud. You know, you just have to wait your turn. The world keeps turning. It does suck because then you sit here and question, ‘Well, did I not do as well as I could have? What can I change? What can I do better?’ But you have to realize it’s not anything that you’re doing.”

Later in that same podcast, Carmella expanded on her frustrations with the current booking of the Women’s Division and what she would do to help turn things around. Learn more here.

Keep up with real-time updates of injuries across the world of wrestling by using our injury resource.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Fightful for the transcription by linking back to this article.