WWE Women’s Champion Sasha Banks discusses Women’s Division, Eddie Guerrero inspiration, brand split & more
The WWE Women’s Champion Sasha Banks has had a great month since the brand split began. After being the second woman picked on the Raw brand, she beat Charlotte for the WWE Women’s Title on the first “new era” edition of Raw on July 25.
In promoting her match against Charlotte at SummerSlam, Jan Murphy of the Kingston Whig Standard wrote about what Banks said to the questions she was asked by the international media. Banks opened up about a number of different subjects. Here’s some of that discussion.
On the current WWE women’s division and what it was like after being called up to main roster last year:
“I’ve wanted to change the whole division (since I was younger). I didn’t want to walk into the WWE being a diva and being someone that you see just doing bikini matches and just play second fiddle to the guys. I wanted to stand out and be the best and have people tune into Monday Night Raw and tune into SmackDown to see what Sasha Banks can do. And hopefully I am doing that and hopefully people are getting excited to see women’s wrestling.”
“It was a struggle at first when we got brought up (to Raw). This Divas Revolution didn’t have that great, great start that I wanted (it) to, but I knew with time that we would get it to where we wanted to be.”
On her Women’s Title defense against Charlotte at SummerSlam:
“I’m definitely excited heading into SummerSlam with Charlotte to have the fans talk about it again, what women’s wrestling can do. I’m definitely looking forward to this match and I’m nervous but really excited. I’m here to be the best and I’m here to show the world why I am the best.”
On Eddie Guerrero inspiring her:
“My biggest inspiration is Eddie Guerrero. Watching him as a child, he was (in) the first match I ever saw on TV. Once I saw him, my heart just went, ‘What is this? What is this wrestling that I am watching?'”
“I think about, ‘What would Eddie do?’ and ‘Would he be proud of me?’ Because he is the reason I’m wrestling. He’s the reason why I’m in the WWE. He’s the reason I wanted to be a wrestler and wanted to be more than what I saw on the TV from the women. I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be the female version of him. So every time I’m out there, I just think, ‘Man, would Eddie do it like that? Should I do it like that?’ There are just so many things going through my mind, but he’s in my mind every single week I wrestle.”
On wanting a Women’s Title for Smackdown brand as well as Raw:
“I think it’s a good opportunity for women. With all of us on the same roster, it was very hard to fight for time. We were barely given any time. Just on Raw, which is a three-hour show, we were given like two minutes, three minutes. Now that we’re both on separate brands, we saw this week, there was two women’s matches on SmackDown, the week before there were two segments of women’s matches. I think it’s a great opportunity. I’m hoping that they get a women’s title for SmackDown and the women’s division can fight for that. Our division is going to keep on growing and growing. With me as champion, I’m definitely going to show what our division is about. I think it’s a great opportunity for groups of women because both women on both sides are amazing competitors.”
There are more comments by Banks in the article including her thoughts on NXT, Stephanie McMahon and current Raw GM Mick Foley praising her Women’s Title victory. Once again, the link to the article is right here.