WWE superstar and current SmackDown women’s champion Sasha Banks recently spoke with The Complex Sports podcast about a variety of different subjects, including Snoop Dogg’s splash on AEW Dynamite, her Mount Rushmore of wrestlers, and what she thinks of the growing blue-brand women’s division. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On the growth of the SmackDown women’s division:
“I’ve opened every single door in my lane, and I’ve opened so many doors in the WWE, and I can see that with my work, I can see that when I go to NXT, I can see that every single week on Friday Night SmackDown. I feel that we have the greatest women’s division of all time right now. All of our women are killing it, and everybody is so relatable. There’s some body for some body.”
Says she’ll be keeping a close eye on the women’s Royal Rumble:
“I’m going to be watching out for that sneaky Charlotte Flair, making sure she doesn’t win again. I’m going to watch for these NXT girls, hopefully there’s going to be some surprises.”
Her role in The Mandalorian:
“It was crazy. My whole experience there… it never really even kicked in that I was there. I was just like ‘how did this even happen?’ It happened so fast, I had no sleep, I had to go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, didn’t go home for months. It was just so incredible, from working with the best creators and the best directors and the best cast ever and being in something so frickin’ legendary that for years to come, for generations to come, people are going to watch this. Little kids are falling in love again, or just starting on Star Wars and the legacy of it all and it’s just like, ‘wow now I’m a part of that.’ So awesome.”
Her personal favorite Royal Rumble moments:
“To be in the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble. To go into rehearsals, and seeing all of these Legends, and then to be pulled aside and to be like ‘you’re going to be the girl that’s going to lead this, you’re going to be the girl that’s goin to have to do all of these things.’ It’s more than just being a good performer and putting on a good show for you guys. It’s making sure I show up for all of these women and women that haven’t been in the ring for how many-plus years and then a lot of brand-new women who haven’t been in a WWE ring. It’s a lot of pressure, and being in a crowd in Philly! It’s more than just one thing, it’s more than what you guys really understand, so that’s why I always say ‘if you guys only knew!’”
How much she misses the live experience of having fans:
“I miss the live energy of people, of fans. They, you guys can create so much magic. You can take me on a ride and you can make me change my mind in my matches. You can make me do different things. I miss that so much.”
Says her favorite pop she’s had is from her Takeover Brooklyn match with Bayley:
“My favorite pop of all time is myself against Bayley in Brooklyn. That crowd and that reaction is everything I’ve ever dreamt of my whole entire life. People were on their feet, no one was sitting down. Not even people in wheelchairs were sitting down, they were all standing up. I was making miracles happen. I was making men cry.”
Thoughts on the ThunderDome:
“I’m still getting used to it. It makes me look like I’m having a big, big Zoom meeting with y’all.”
On Snoop Dogg’s splash on AEW Dynamite:
“I saw him two weeks before he did that, and he was talking about how he wanted to do a splash. I wasn’t thinking that splash was going to look like that! He called me right after, just cracked up laughing, asking if I was proud. I was like ‘dude, if you had fun, that’s all that matters. We still got time. I wanna do matches with him. I want him as my tag team partner for WrestleMania, so we got time. I got time to train him. That splash is going to be five stars, OK?”
Her personal Mount Rushmore of wrestling:
“Of course I’m #1. Me, Bayley, Eddie Guerrero. Kurt Angle.”
Praises Kurt Angle:
“He is one of the greatest wrestlers and entertainers of all time. His matches are so crisp. If you are a wrestler and trying to get into the game, if you are trying to learn the basics and then learn the top techniques, you need to be watching Kurt Angle.”