Sasha Banks On Who Taught Her About Working The Camera, Struggling With Being A Babyface
Recently on E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness, former world champions Edge and Christian spoke with WWE Monday Night RAW's Sasha Banks. Among many other things, Banks talked about not understanding the complacency afflicting some WWE Superstars. Banks discussed developing her 'Legit Boss' persona and not wanting to cry in the ring after winning the NXT Women's Championship. Banks weighed in on the challenges of portraying a babyface character and her personal preference for working heel. Also, Banks spoke on the subject of her developing promo skills and learning to be more outspoken about her creative concerns.
According to Banks, she does not understand the complacency of some WWE performers and suggested that unhappy WWE Superstars need to take it up with 'the office'.
"I never wanted to be second best," Banks admitted. "I feel like with anything you do in life, you should strive to be number one, you should strive to be the best. I don't get how people can be here [in WWE] and just sit around and wait for their turn. Do you know what I mean? Like, or be okay with, like, having a match one week and then the next week being off too. I just don't know how you do that when this job is hard enough as it is. And I feel like you have to work your ass off to get where you want to be and you have to knock down those doors. And if you're not happy, you have to let them know. Don't just tell me you're happy. You have to show me. I have to show them every single week that I'm here to be the best. When I go out every Monday night, I'm stealing the show or I'm having the best match of the night, so that's what [pushes] me to be better because I just can't be complacent."
During the interview, Banks suggested that once a character becomes second nature, the performer does not need to think about what she is doing in the ring. Moreover, Banks credited former WWE Superstar Summer Rae for teaching her about camera angles and working with the cameramen.
"At the time, Summer Rae was going up on the main roster and she would come back down [to NXT] for tapings. And just little things of her even telling me when to look at the camera or understanding when the camera guys have their five-finger [countdown] up and you have five seconds. Those little things like that where I just understood the camera work of everything, and wrestling kind of came easier [to] me, and understanding your character. But once you understand your character, you don't have to think about the moves anymore. You just embody this character where the moves almost become second nature and just everything kind of flows together because you're kind of thinking, 'well, my character would do this here' or 'my character would sell this way.'" Banks added, "so it wasn't really until I got into the BFF group and then kind of branched off on my own where it kind of really clicked for me."
Banks suggested that her character started to really develop in NXT when she won the NXT Women's Championship. Apparently, she refused to smile and look happy after winning the title because it went against her character's chip on her shoulder.
"Once I was next in line for the NXT [Women's] title run, that's when my character really started to come out, just showing the world, I can say it, but let me show you in the ring that I truly am the best. So that happened and we had this fatal four-way match with myself, Becky [Lynch], [it's] Bayley, and Charlotte [Flair] and that's when I won the NXT Women's title. And, for me, that was such an insane moment because being called up on the road just to do live events, but still down in NXT, so I wasn't around those girls when they were trying to plan it and think about putting this match together. But I remember winning that match and in the ref's ear, they're like, 'you need to smile! Be happy that you won' and I was like, 'no! This is my character! I'm pissed off that you didn't believe in me!' I remember I came in the back and I started crying my eyes out that I had just won this title and Triple H was just like, 'why didn't you do that out there?' And I was like, 'because that's how I felt.' I know how I'd feel out there, but when I come back through the curtains, I'm not Sasha Banks anymore." Banks said, "I'm just Mercedes that got to live this dream."
Although Banks has been a babyface longer than she has been a heel in WWE, the four-time RAW Women's Champion admitted that she still struggles with being a babyface now and prefers working heel.
"For me, I love being a bad guy. When I first started, it did not feel natural at all. And then, it just kind of clicked." Banks continued, "I've been a babyface longer than I've been a heel so far in my career in WWE. And when I first turned babyface, I thought it was the hardest thing to do. To get people to like you naturally is so hard. And, like, I still feel like I struggle with it to this day. But I love just learning and growing. And I think whatever role they want to give me, I just want to knock it out of the park. But I think being a heel is just so much [more fun] because I like when people boo me. I like pushing those buttons and seeing what I need to do or what can I do to get the whole building to boo me. It's kind of a crazy feeling."
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On the subject of promos, Banks acknowledged that promos were never the strongest dimension of her professional wrestling presentation. 'The Boss' suggested that she has no problem voicing creative concerns to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon now. Additionally, Banks noted recently calling Nia Jax a "b—h" on RAW was an audible Banks called on the spot and that it is sometimes better to ask for forgiveness after the fact.
"For me, promos haven't really been my best strong suit," Banks explained. "But I feel as I keep getting older, which kind of sucks, the more mature I get and the more I actually think about what I say. And also, I feel like now as a performer, I'm not really scared to speak up when I'm given a promo and that's the beautiful thing about WWE and with them growing as well, if you get handed something and you have questions about it, I'm not scared to go to Vince and ask him to change it and put it in my own words. So for the last two weeks, the week before I wasn't supposed to say the b-word, but it just kind of came out and I feel like that added to that promo as well. So you just always have to kind of apologize later. If you're trying to do the best you can to make the story better, I think it's okay to do those things."
Listen to the pod here https://omny.fm/shows/e-c-s-pod-of-awesomeness/the-boss-sasha-banks or via the audio player below. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness