Sasha Banks stands atop WWE's Women's Division, but there was a time when The Boss thought her time with the company was coming to an end.
Speaking with Stone Cold Steve Austin on the newest edition of Broken Skull Sessions, Sasha talked about how she first got involved with WWE, coming up with her name, and finding her character. According to Banks, in 2013 she was worried about being released, but thanks Tyler Breeze and Xavier Woods for helping her through that time.
"In 2013 I felt an energy that I was going to get released. I had no character. I had nothing but good wrestling skills. Every single week I would go to promo class and just be happy and grateful to be there. Just a generic babyface...I was like, 'no, this is not it.' When you feel energy, and my energy I can feel a lot of things, I was like, 'I'm on the chopping block and I cannot get fired.' I felt it. I could not get fired from this place that I grew up watching my whole life. My only dream. So Tyler Breeze, he helped me so much. He's like, 'you need to write down a list of all different characters and we can film it with Woods.' Woods would help everybody who was ever on the chopping block or who wanted to do some things. or wanted to send some things into WWE and make things more, just for them to see their character. Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze went out of their way to help so many people. I couldn't even believe it."
Sasha shares that she came up with five different characters, but that it was her cousin Snoop Dogg who inspired the one we've all come to know.
"So I made like five different characters and five different stories of five different backgrounds. The first one I did was The Boss because my cousin is Snoop Dogg. I remember at 16 years old going to WrestleMania in Orlando with him and him doing rehearsals and I'm walking down the ramp with him, just behind him like this, and I see all the girls. He's doing the Divas Playboy Battle Royal. I get to see all these freaking women that I get to watch every single week, and I'm like, 'I am going to be walking down this stage one day and I gotta do it like Snoop Dogg because everybody around him calls him The Boss.'"
Unfortunately for Banks, her new gimmick wasn't well-received the first time she unveiled it at promo class. That didn't matter though, as there was one person who loved it and championed Sasha to continue on with it.
"I thought, you know, that's a good character, let me take that and turn it up. I'm the baddest, I'm the greatest, I'm the boss of NXT. I tried it at promo class, everyone sh*tted on it except for Dusty Rhodes, which is going to make me cry. Nobody got it, nobody understood it except for Dusty. He said, 'that's what I wanted, keep on coming back every single week and doing that. That's the sassy Sahsa that I've been dreaming and seeing and wanting you to be.' So crazy."
The full interview is now available to watch on the WWE Network.
Sasha Banks has gone on to be a Grand Slam Champion in WWE and is the current SmackDown Women's Champion. She is set to challenge for the Tag Team Titles at Elimination Chamber when she and Bianca Belair take on the team of Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler.
Fightful will have live coverage of the event beginning at 3 PM PST.
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