A young, timid Sasha Banks anxiously stared the ring down on her first day attending the New England Pro Wrestling Academy in North Andover, Mass. in 2010. She had yet to step through the ropes, but already could envision her future movements, mannerisms and mat classics. The first cousin of rap icon Snoop Dogg was only 18, but had firmly made the decision to solely dedicate her life to sports-entertainment. Banks, even from day one, has had a singular ambition in mind:
“People have dreams of being in WWE, but I don’t think people know that my dream was to be the best in WWE,” Banks told WWE.com.
In a few short days, Banks will have her opportunity to prove she’s the best when she competes for the Divas Championship in a Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania 32. Yet, becoming the best — or, for that matter, The Boss — didn’t happen overnight.
Sasha’s journey began back when she was in the fifth grade, pounding the technological pavement long before it was even legally feasible for her to enter a ring.
When she walked in the room there was something different about her. She definitely had that ’it’ factor right off the bat.
“I remember looking up schools when I was 10,” she said. “At the time, I was living in Iowa and I remember messaging [the] New England Pro Wrestling Academy. I sent them an e-mail saying, ’Can you train me?’ And they said, ’Not until you’re 16.’”
Banks and her family moved several times during her formative years, but, as fate would have it, they found residence in Massachusetts as she entered her teens.
“I saw that [New England Pro Wrestling Academy] had a training camp and the person who impressed the coaches the most would get three free months training,” she said. “I remember I trained my butt off, I worked out every single day. This was a week after my 18th birthday, so my mom didn’t have to sign anything, it was just me doing it.”
Now seeing a potential lane to her dream forming right in front of her, the young Banks did not hold back at the camp,
“I was the only girl there,” Banks remembered, “and at the end of the training camp, they pulled me aside and said, ‘We want you to train here.’”
Winning three free months of training was a blessing for Banks. She wouldn’t have been able to afford going to the school otherwise.
“I just remember that I got my little certificate, and I went to the car and just started crying,” she said. “I thought, ‘Thank God, I’m finally living my dream. I’m finally doing everything I’ve said I wanted to do since I was 10.’”
Getting in the door at the NEPWA was only the first hurdle to clear, however. As she bluntly puts it, Banks had two major factors working against her as she began her professional training.
“[I was] just a small, little girl,” she said. “I was legit 99 pounds [and] the only girl training there.”
All those factors considered, it would have been easy for those around her to doubt her upward trajectory. Yet, fellow trainee and friend Mark Shurman saw something in The Boss-to-be from the get-go.
“When she walked in the room there was something different about her. She definitely had that ’it’ factor right off the bat,” Shurman told WWE.com. “She respected the business. She knew the history, followed the product [and] knew everything in and out. She loved wrestling.”
Her trainer, Brian Fury, a journeyed and respected independent wrestler in the northeast area, was impressed early on with her level of dedication.
“She was super-determined — never satisfied with any matches [or] training sessions that she had,” he said. “I could tell that she really wanted to be great in this business, and that she was willing to sacrifice and give it her all.”
A quick and fearless learner, Banks was not afraid to mix it up with anyone.
I looked within and said, ‘Damn it, I’m a Boss, I’m about to tell people that I’m a Boss, because I am the best.'
“She trained with all the guys,” Fury said. “She didn’t get any special treatment, but she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”
“I told [Fury], ‘I want to be treated like the boys,’” Sasha said. “I got hit just like the boys, bodyslammed just like the boys, and God, I learned so much.”
After embracing the grind on the northeast independent circuit for several years, Banks got the call that all in her position hopes for: She was now in WWE NXT.
Though her work ethic persisted upon her arrival to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., a truly distinct persona had yet to emerge. Beginning to feel slighted in relation to how she was being used, Banks knew she had to raise, or, more aptly, promote herself to the next level.
“I was told I was here to help the girls and, ‘You’re a good hand, but you’re nothing,’” Sasha said. “And I really took that to heart. I was like, ‘Hell, no! I am more’ … so, I worked on myself. I looked within and said, ‘Damn it, I’m a Boss, I’m about to tell people that I’m a Boss, because I am the best.’”
Banks underwent a complete transformation. Adorning herself in colorful, blinged-out outfits, custom shades and three-finger rings to match, she pulled influences from popular culture — most specifically, Uncle Snoop — and displayed a new, distinct attitude that ensured she would never be overlooked again.
The Boss brought Banks from NXT talent to NXT Superstar. Putting it all together right before the NXT Universe’s eyes, she had a string of incredibly memorable matches with three women who were blossoming right alongside her: Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley. Collectively, they would come to be known as the Four Horsewomen.
People used to use the girls’ match for a bathroom break. Now people are buying tickets to sit and watch the girls’ match.
In the midst of all that, Banks won the NXT Women’s Championship, and in the midst of that, she and Bayley stole the show with their instant classic at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.
To hear Banks speak on her NXT ascent, it is clear that her primary motivation never wavered.
“From that rise I wanted to show people why I thought I was the best, and I put on these matches where people were talking about it.”
The Boss and Bayley followed up on Brooklyn, which WWE.com called both the best Divas and NXT match of all-time, with another iconic outing — the first ever women’s Iron Man Match at NXT TakeOver: Respect. The match was also the first time a women’s contest was to headline a WWE Special Event, a fact that still somewhat astonishes Banks.
“Who would have ever thought that women would headline a WWE Network special?” Sasha said. “People used to use the girls’ match for a bathroom break. Now people are buying tickets to sit and watch the girls’ match.”
The history making main event match was Banks’ swan song in NXT, however, there were no breaks for The Boss — she was already spearheading a revolution on Raw and SmackDown.
The Divas Revolution was far more than clever branding; Banks, Lynch and Charlotte’s arrival to Raw in summer 2015 marked the first steps in a significant metamorphosis. Banks wasted no time, clashing with the likes of WWE mainstays Paige and The Bella Twins.
And although the differences may not have been noticeable to all, Banks and company were slowly shifting the culture of the entire division. Matches were lengthier, more competitive and audiences were invested.
“The fans wanted to see more of the women,” Sasha said, reflecting back on those first few weeks of the revolution. “At that moment, I just thought, ‘Wow, we’re doing it. We’re changing the game.’”
Also changing was the WWE Universe’s reaction to Banks herself. The bad girl of NXT, The Boss was infamously met with chants of “Sasha’s ratchet” during her time at Full Sail University. Yet, in the wake of her Match of the Year candidates with Bayley, Sasha began to gain ample respect from crowds, to the point where they began to boisterously chant “We want Sasha” when Diva matches did not involve her.
Demand, and you shall receive.
Banks inserted herself into the Divas Championship picture at WWE Royal Rumble earlier this year, creating a clear path — or road, as it may be — to both her first WrestleMania and Divas Championship opportunity. Squaring off with fellow revolutionaries Charlotte and Lynch, the three women will have a chance to cement not only their respective legacies, but also a new era in the Divas division on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
“It’s every wrestler’s dream to perform at WrestleMania. To do it in my first year on the [WWE] roster with Charlotte and Becky, two girls I started out with … it’s really emotional,” Sasha said. “I’m going to put my heart out there. This means absolutely everything to me.”
At WrestleMania 32, Sasha Banks will still be young, but now the furthest thing from timid. She will once again stare the ring down anxiously, but this time in a completely different context. Anticipating it all, she can already envision what she’ll be thinking behind the curtain the moment the beat drops on her entrance theme on Sunday, April 3.
“This is a moment where I’ll see a sea of fans cheering, and I can truly say that I made it because I never gave up.”
Now, as Sasha Banks looks to achieve her dream of becoming the best and acquiring the championship hardware to prove it, WWE.com will join The Boss on the next phase of her journey. Stay with us throughout the week to witness Banks take the final stops on her Road to WrestleMania, en route to her Divas Championship Match this Sunday on The Show of Shows.