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Sasha Banks Says She Prefers Being a Heel, Says She Got The Boss Gimmick From Snoop Dogg

December 14, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
Sasha Banks Image Credit: WWE

– Sasha Banks recently appeared on Steve Austin’s Podcast (transcript via wrestlinginc.com), here are the highlights…

On Preferring Being a Heel: “I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately because usually I just say, ‘both’ just to give that bland answer. But I do enjoy working heel,” Banks admitted. “It’s I feel more comfortable. I feel more free. I feel like I’m being more myself because I can really be like, ‘yeah, I’m the s–t.’ Do you know what I mean? Which I feel like it’s hard to be as a babyface, but in today’s day and age, I feel like today’s babyfaces are really the heels in our heels are now the babyfaces because that’s what our fans are cheering now. The fans are cheering the heels and booing the babyfaces because they want to see people kick ass. They want to see them saying stuff and doing stuff in more of a gritty way than being all, ‘yeah, I’m going to kick your butt because I’m a good guy!’ Ugh! It drives me [insane]… Exactly, everyone plays by the rules! It drives me insane. I hate it.”

On Evolving From a Bland Babyface:”I was just a very bland babyface, doing all the moves that I wanted to do, not really understanding telling a story and everything. And that was the same person who walked into FCW when I got signed, same, just happy to be there. I was happy to be there, doing my job, this and that, until finally I was like, ‘I need more. I need a character. I need a character because that’s what the fans connect to. Once they connect to that, then they’ll start appreciating your work. I didn’t come here to be a good hand. I didn’t come here just to be a person to, I don’t want to say, ‘put over’, just to make someone look good. I came here to be a WWE Superstar and I took that to heart.”

On Advice She Got From Tyler Breeze: “I talked to Tyler Breeze too because he was in the same boat as me of not having a character and he told me the same thing: like, have different names, have different characters, have different bios for them, and go to promo class and see what sticks. The first thing that came to mind was ‘The Boss’ because it was like, ‘you need to accept that you’re Snoop Dogg’s cousin.’ People call him ‘The Boss’ all the time, so I’m going to be this flashy, cocky character because truly, I don’t like saying it, that’s what I am. I knew at the time that I was the best women’s wrestler in that place [NXT]. The best. And if I believed in my heart if I showed it to these people, I bet that they’ll believe me because I believe myself. How could you not believe me? The first promo I did was in front of Dusty and I was like, ‘I’m the meanest. I’m the baddest. I am the prettiest. I am the boss of NXT.’ And I remember Dusty saying, ‘that’s the sassy Sasha that I wanted to see all along!’ [Rhodes] was like, ‘I always pictured you being sassy. I want to see sassiness.’ And I couldn’t find my sassiness until I found ‘The Legit Boss’. And every week I’d work on my promos and he’d just be like, ‘there’s something to this.'”

On Stealing The Boss Gimmick From Snoop Dogg: “No, I stole his ‘boss’ persona. He’s my cousin, but we’re not very close. People always think we’re like best friends or cousins-cousins and grew up together and went to each other’s houses to hang out, but no. I didn’t meet this guy until maybe I was 12 [years old] and he came to Iowa for a concert and anytime he came around we would always go to the concert and this and that. And he told me he loved wrestling and I told him that I love wrestling and that was our bond. And anytime he went to [a WWE event], like one time he hosted RAW, or if I was he was hosting WrestleMania or doing the Divas match, I was like, ‘please bring me with you’ and every time he did. And that was our bond, the love of wrestling and we always talk about wrestling and I told him I wanted to be a wrestler when I grow up and he told me, ‘hey, if that’s your dream, go get it,’ so it’s so crazy that he did that, was it WrestleMania 32, he did that entrance and I was like, ‘how is this possible? It’s so cool! What a dream come true of having a legend in the rap game coming out and doing your entrance? That’s your family member too, so that’s awesome.'”

article topics :

Mercedes Mone, WWE, Larry Csonka