411’s WWE Evil Episode Three Report: Sasha Banks

-Rolling along as I am up early on a Saturday morning thanks to my 4-year-old. Let’s get to it!

-As a reminder, John Cena is the narrator for this series.

-Run Time: 40:48

-Sasha tells us she has always liked when the bad guys win in the movies. There is something more intriguing about bad guys and maybe that’s just her and her personality. Ofcourse Bayley is here and she talks about the look Sasha has in her eyes that shows she is dangerous. SNOOP DOGG! He talks about her doing whatever she needs to do to win.

-Show opening!

-We start with corn fields in Iowa City, Iowa as that is where Sasha grew up. She didn’t have a dad and her mom didn’t have a job. She was the only person of color in the town and had no friends or social life due to starting online school at twelve. One day she was scrolling through channels on TV and stumbled across WWE. She became obsessed with wrestling as it was her escape.

-Eddie Guerrero: She had an instant connection with him as he was one of the few ethnic people in WWE. Bayley talks about Eddie coming out with the Low Rider. “You don’t get flashier than that.” Eddie was all about Cheat 2 Win which Sasha loved and she also loved The Frog Splash. We get a montage of Eddie hitting the move which is great. Rey talks about how Eddie was great at getting people to love him or hate him. Sasha tells us she felt alive anytime she watched Eddie and becoming a wrestler was her only dream.

-She dreamed of walking down a WWE ramp, hitting a pose and having all eyes on her. She filled journals with notes and ideas about wrestling. She would write down the results of all wrestling shows. Snoop says he realized she was into wrestling when she was about 9-10 years old. She begged Snoop to take her to WrestleMania 24 in Orlando. That was Flair’s retirement match. Snoop took her and introduced her to the various wrestlers and we get some cool photos of a young Mercedes with John Cena and Snoop. There was no Plan B, C, D, E, or F for her. She had to make it.

-Boston, MA: 18 year old Mercedes moves with her family and she started training with Chaotic Wrestling. We see a promo from Chaotic circa 2011 and man she is just a baby here. They have footage from some early Indy shows where she was working matches with men. Snoop talks about her hard work on the Indy scene and this is some great stuff. I am a sucker for this kind of footage. In 2012 she got the call to join WWE’s Developmental System.

-Off to the WWE PC as Sasha says she learned right away that she knew absolutely nothing. It takes so much to be a character on National TV. They broke her down quickly. Latoya Ferguson, journalist, talks about the early Sasha character in NXT as it was generic and void of any real personality. There was no character as Sasha talks about being so shy and concerned if she was going to get fired.

-She watched hours of interviews and movies. She loved the way Floyd Mayweather talked and how he was so confident. She brings up Kayne West going up on stage and interrupting other people and oh man, they actually show THE VMA MOMENT WHERE HE INTERRUPTED TAYLOR SWIFT. “YO TAYLOR, I AM REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU AND I’M GOING TO LET YOU FINISH, BUT BEYONCE HAD ONE OF THE GREATEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIME.” Amazing still and yes, I am a Taylor Swift fan. If you ever catch me in my car I am usually listening to Eminemn or Taylor Swift with some Boyz II Men, or Phantom Of The Opera soundtrack thrown in. Sasha talks about being influenced by Nikki Minaj and The Bratz Dolls. She then realized, oh yeah, my cousin is Snoop Dogg and people would call him The Boss. Now she wanted that name.

-We get early Boss promo work and Bayley was stunned as this wasn’t the Sasha she knew. She wanted to slap her! Nice! They knew they needed to test the character in front of an audience and it was a match against Paige for the Title. Paige gets the win and after the match, Sasha snaps and attacks Paige. That would become a defining trait of the character. She says it was a great feeling as she found something that clicked for her. The fans were booing and she had no problem being vicious and letting everyone know she was the best. Sasha was the opposite of Mercedes and was everything she wanted Mercedes to be. Dr Phil talks about escapism. They discuss The Banks Statement and how vicious of a hold it is which also added to the character.

-Sasha had the reputation as the most vicious woman in NXT, but then enter Charlotte Flair. She was blessed with the genes of the Greatest World Champion of All Time according to Cena. They tease what Charlotte has to say as a talking head before heading to a commercial. Drama!

-Young babyface Charlotte from NXT looks like a different person. Sure, she was Flair’s daughter but she is an athletic freak. Charlotte: “I’m 5’10, blonde and athletic, what’s not to like? Oh yeah, my last name is Flair so everything was handed to me.” Sasha admits she was jealous because Charlotte rose to the top so fast and it made her want to top what she was doing. Charlotte compares them to two bulls going head to head as they each wanted to be the best. Denise Salcedo talks about how they were alpha females and magic happened when they collided. She credits the rivalry for making Sasha meaner.

-Soon Bayley and Becky Lynch were on the scene and only one could be The Boss of NXT. They discuss how they were stealing the show, but weren’t the main event. The four faced off in a 4 Way for the NXT Woman’s Title. Sasha wanted that to be her WrestleMania match. She calls it a special match and you have to think at some point the WWE needs to run that back on the main roster in a big spot. Sasha pins Flair to claim her first NXT Championship. Great stuff and it was clear that what women were being allowed to do was changing on NXT and one day soon it would be coming to the main roster.

-NXT Takeover: Brooklyn: We get the contract signing between Bayley and Sasha that was presided over by Mr. Regal. Big time show as it was the first NXT Special held in an arena outside of Full Sail and started the trend of NXT out performing the main roster. Sasha and Bayley have an outstanding show stealing classic. Sasha attacked the broken hand and just enjoyed punishing Bayley. The foot stomp on the broken hand brought out a crazy reaction from the crowd as they were buying everything they saw. Bayley calls Sasha evil. Roll credits!

-Izzy: Sasha tells us she knew that Bayley was everything to Izzy. Speaking of Izzy Silagyi, she pops up as a talking head and tells us that Sasha was taunting her the entire match. Sasha stole the head band from Bayley which made her cry. Awesome! Izzy tells us that she hates bullies, but it made me laugh. Sasha: “You don’t make children cry. Period. Sasha Banks does though.” Tell ’em!

-She hits the main roster in 2015 and Rey says you could see Eddie in her with her swag and drip. Dr. Phil tells us that part of us enjoys the villain as it shows what it would be like if we would let the beast out.

-2019 Sasha is a multiple time champion and at the top of her game, but she exhausted herself working 24/7. She had a breakdown as she was playing Sasha so much she forget who Mercedes was and she realized she needed a break. She talks about getting everything she dreamed of, but it was different than what she expected with the travel and no sleep plus the other sacrifices. Charlotte talks about the level of commitment and how nobody on the outside understands.

-Sasha talks about going to Vince and asking for her release and he told her no. He told her to take time off for herself. She admits she was ready and she wanted to know who she was without Sasha Banks. She took the time off to travel to Japan to find herself mentally and physically. Bayley admits she was prepared for Sasha to never return. Sasha took the time to learn Japanese Strong Style and it reignited her passion in wrestling. All the fire came back and she knew the love for wrestling was still there.

-August 12, 2019: Sasha makes her return after a 4-month break. She mentions she came back knowing who she was and who Sasha Banks was. She still loves wrestling and still has that 10 year old kid inside. Sasha returns to RAW to comfort Nattie as she talks about her father passing away one year ago today. At least that is what we thought, but I mean this series is called Evil, so Sasha attacks Nattie and debuts her blue hair. Nattie calls her bitchy, rotten and Evil. Roll credits!

-Sasha feels her in ring performance and style is on a whole new level. She talks about making fans and little girls cry. We get a montage of her vicious side with the Hell in a CelL match with Becky, making Lacey’s daughter cry, and the run of The Golden Role Models.

-WrestleMania 37: Bianca calls it The Super Bowl of Wrestling and it’s noted it was the first time two black females had a Main Event Title Match at WrestleMania. Sasha dreamed about being in the Main Event of Mania while in NXT, but always thought that was a pipe dream. Bianca tells us that her rule is don’t touch my hair and I won’t use it. Bianca laughs at the sound of the hair whip and Sasha says you just have to deal win the pain. Bianca gets the win though Sasha admits she stayed out there longer to take in the moment. Good for Sasha as she put over Bianca huge and deserved that spot.

-We wrap up with the various talking heads discussing what makes Sasha so great. She just wants to make everyone feel how Eddie Guerrero made her feel.

-This series continues to bring the goods and I just enjoy all the talking heads and footage they use that is from outside the WWE bubble. It really adds to this and makes what they are talking about feel more authentic and real. As for Sasha specifically she was a good choice to focus on as of the current women on the roster she has been seen as the evilest mostly due to all the times she had turned on someone. They could have gone with Bliss due to the change with The Fiend character and speaking of which, Wyatt not being with the company anymore cost us him being featured in this series. I appreciated them touching on the mental took it took on Mercedes playing this role 24/7 and losing herself in it which can be good and, in this case showed it can be bad. The best part of this series has been the mental aspect of wanting to play someone that is going to be hated, mocked, and booed. I still have the Hogan episode being my favorite of the bunch but I did find myself enjoying this one a bit more than the one about Miz. All fantastic though. Thanks for reading and next up is Taker and Kane!