Sasha Banks appeared on “Mark Andrews: My Love Letter to Wrestling” to talk about the difference between the indies and the WWE, and why she loves pro wrestling.
Sasha Banks was asked what the difference is between working the indies and working for WWE:
“It was so hard because I came in like, ‘I know how to wrestle.’ Then I got slapped in the face and I said, ‘No you don’t. Not WWE style,’” Banks shared.
“There is so much more to it. We are a television show, so number one, we have to understand the audience that we are performing in front of the camera. It’s scary when you have to be in such a zone where you have thousands of fans yelling at you. You have the red light looking at you. You have people on the floor going, ‘Go, go, go.’ You have the referee. You have the new person in the ring.”
“It’s so much coming from the independent scene where it was like, ‘Do whatever.’ There was no psychology. No time cues. It was like, ‘Let me do a superkick because I’m doing my favorite moves from my favorite wrestlers.’ When you come to WWE, it’s a whole different ball game going from the independents to NXT,” she continued.
“That was a whole different level as well, but WWE RAW/SmackDown, there’s no comparison.”
Banks on why she loves pro wrestling:
“I love pro wrestling because I get to be everything. I get to be a superhero. I get to be an actress. I get to be a stunt woman. I get to be a circus act. I get to be a writer, producer and model. I get to be everything I want to be because of wrestling,” Sasha said.
“It’s more than just doing the moves in the ring. It’s performing. It’s meeting people. It’s doing interviews. It’s being on Star Wars. It’s meeting legends like Stone Cold Steve Austin. You get to make your dreams come true with wrestling.”
“I always wanted to be so much more when I was a kid because I was a nobody, and I was in the background. I watched wrestling and I was like, ‘These people are so much larger than life.”
“They’re fit. They’re over the top. There are so many weird people’, and I felt like I was weird, so I’m going to fit into wrestling. I want to feel the punches and the fighting. I like MMA. I love everything about it. The fans that are so die hard, that’s so crazy that we get to have such amazing, incredible fans that are always there, all over the world, supporting us doing the craziest thing ever. There’s nothing better than it.”
Other topics covered on this week’s episode include Star Wars, dream matches, and what it means to be a wrestling nerd.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit “My Love Letter To Wrestling” with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.