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Sasha Banks Comments on WWE Return, Why She Needed a Break, Responding to Rumors

By John Canton • Published 15th September 2019
TJR Wrestling

A new episode of WWE Chronicle aired last night on WWE Network that focused on Sasha Banks. It featured some exclusive comments from Banks talking about why she was on a WWE break after WrestleMania this year, how she felt coming back in August (as a heel) and she opened up more about how she feels about her place in the wrestling business.

Thanks to Lordsofpain for writing a transcript of the entire conversation that Banks had. I won’t include all of it, but here are some excerpts.

On why she took a break from WWE after WrestleMania:

“The last few months have been time for me to grow and to really rediscover myself as a person that I felt like I lost for the last seven years. I haven’t heard my name, my real name in seven years. I haven’t seen what my real hair color was for the last seven years. So for the last few months, I just took the time to rediscover myself and figure out what makes me happy. And knowing what makes me happy without wrestling even though every single day I’ve missed it so much. All I’ve had since I was a little girl was wrestling. And wrestling saved my life. And I felt like it was destroying it, so I wanted to take a step back and figure out what that problem was. I fought for so much. I’ve done so much here, and I feel so fulfilled in my heart. I feel like i’ve accomplished everything I’ve ever wanted to. And I really have. I’ve done more than I’ve ever dreamt of. Everything that I wrote in my notebook as goals when I was 10, I can legit check them all off. And I just felt like I had nothing else to fight for.”

“I feel like it was so much. I felt like, please don’t make me cry. So many bad things kept happening and I didn’t know how to deal with them. And I think what really started it all, like feeling sad, was the whole Paige situation. That really sucked. Having fans destroy me and my work. I pride myself on my work so much. And I would never intentionally try to hurt somebody. And that sucked. And that made me question myself as a wrestler.”

On feeling “so far gone” at WrestleMania:

“At WrestleMania, I felt so ashamed to say this, but I had zero feeling going out there and that’s everybody’s dream. To be on WrestleMania like what the hell? I have no feeling? I wasn’t trying to pump myself up like I normally do. And in my heart and my head, I was so far gone. I had no feeling. I walked out there and looked out to the crowd and like this is it. I’m done. I’m thankful this is it. It’s so crazy. I hate that I lost that. I am staging all the bad energy and bringing positive energy into my space because I need it. You want some? If anybody comes here, and brings the bad negativity, they go away. Now I’m good.”

On who she talked to about taking a break from WWE earlier this year:

“I told my husband first. And he was like, no. Then an hour later he was like yeah, if you want to leave, I’m 100% behind you because he’s seen how much I’ve changed. He’s seen how sad and depressed I was. Telling him and him saying it was ok. I was like what? Saying to Pam (Bayley) and her not stopping me I knew I was in a bad place. I knew I needed to go get help. I tried to help myself and no one knows myself better than she does. When I told her, and she was just like are you ok? Like I just knew it. I knew I’ve been so far gone from myself that I had to go, you know, and they say all the time if you’re not having fun you need to go. And I wasn’t having fun. I wasn’t myself.”

“I turned into someone I hated. I couldn’t even look in the mirror because I lost all the light in my eyes. I started to lose all the love that I had for wrestling which saved my life as a kid. The only thing I’ve ever known. The only thing I’ve ever loved. I knew I had to go. I mean, I’m still in this weird place, it didn’t feel real. The week before wasn’t finalized and then just like a couple of days, before ok, we got your flight and back into the grind just like that. Oh my gosh. I just want it to be over with already. I hope I do good? Like ok, you got this. It was a long day and it’s so hard to explain, but the highlight and wait and wait and wait until the time was right and haven’t put on the gear in a long time and try to fix this wig on top of another wig and try to figure everything out. It was crazy.”

On rumors about acting unprofessionally after the loss at WrestleMania:

“Yeah. At first it really bothered me. Because the same feeling how I felt when that Paige stuff happened. Just like man, you guys don’t know the full story. You don’t know the full thing. And then just just like how the hell do they make this stuff up? Like I saw so much stuff. Like crying on the floor of the locker room. No. I got undressed. Put my clothes on and walked out and stand with the fans with Pam watching the main event because I was so happy for those girls. There were rumors about me crying at the hotel floor.”

“Please show me those pictures. Send me the footage. You can’t let those things destroy you. You can’t take anything personal because they don’t know me. They don’t know Mercedes who played Sasha Banks. They don’t know what we go through day to day at live events, tv or what we do at home. You can let think whatever they want because they’re not going to change and I don’t have to change for them. I have to change what makes me feel good for myself. I think that’s the best part, good or bad, talk about me.”

That’s just a sampling of what was discussed. There’s a lot more on there, so check it out.

TJR Thoughts: It was an interesting special on Banks, who clearly was emotional throughout the discussion because she definitely is the kind of person that wears her heart on her sleeve.

Regarding the rumors around WrestleMania where there was a claim that Banks and Bayley threw a tantrum in the locker room and at the WrestleMania hotel, I never believed it, nor did I post it on TJRWrestling. I think Banks should have shut those rumors down the day they came out because the sad thing is a lot of people will believe the lies that are out there and the people that report this stuff (I’m not naming names) need to be held accountable.