Sasha Banks developed her "Boss" persona out of frustration over the lack of opportunities she was receiving in NXT at the time.
Banks shared how the character came to be during an appearance on a recent episode of The Steve Austin Show.
She recalled how, during the early days of her NXT stint, each TV taping followed the same formula where she would show up, and be put into a match with no real creative direction. When Banks asked if she was "ever going to have a story or go anywhere", management told her that her best asset was in the ring, making other female wrestlers in NXT look good. It also has been reported in the past how NXT management previously viewed Banks as "useless."
"I took that as such a stab to the heart. I'm like, I didn't come here to be a good hand. I didn't come here … just to make people look good. I came here to be a superstar."
Banks and her then-fiancee, now husband, sat down to come up with a variety of different characters and concepts.
"I talked to Tyler Breeze, too. He was in the same boat as me—not having a character. He told me, have different names, have different characters, have different bios for them and go to promo class and see what sticks. The first thing that came to mind was the Boss, because I was like, you need to accept that you're Snoop Dogg's cousin. People call him the boss all the time. I'm gonna be this flashy, cocky character because truly, I don't like saying it, that's what I am. I knew at the time I was the best woman wrestler in that place. The best. And if I believed in my heart, if I showed it to these people, I bet they would believe me."
Banks brought the idea to the next promo class at NXT, and "The Boss" was born.
"The first promo I did was in front of Dusty [Rhodes] and I was like, 'I'm the meanest. I'm the baddest. I'm the prettiest. I am the Boss of NXT.' And I remember Dusty saying, 'That's the sassy Sasha that I wanted to see all along.' "
Check out Banks' full interview on Steve Austin's podcast.
