Sasha Banks Talks Facing Becky Lynch At WWE Clash Of Champions, Paige's Injury, Criticism From Fans
With her long-awaited return, Sasha Banks is set to challenge Becky Lynch for the WWE RAW Women's Championship at WWE Clash of Champions. In the recently posted WWE Chronicle, on the WWE Network, Banks spoke in-depth about her return and facing Lynch for the title.
"I feel like going into this Sunday I'm not proving anybody anything but I'm just doing it for myself," Banks said. "I'm going out there and wrestling for myself and my happiness. I'm going out there and wrestling because it makes me happy putting on a show for the fans, I'm not doing it for them, I'm doing it because I love to do it.
"I love putting in the work because I love seeing the outcome from it. And I feel like my hard work will finally pay off good because like I've said many times you've got to be so good that they can't ignore you and even if they do just do it for yourself. Just make sure that you're happy and having fun out there."
It's been a long road for Banks, who disappeared from WWE TV after her and partner Bayley lost the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 35. However, Banks returned in August without warning attacking Natalya. Addressing her reasons for leaving Banks cites unhappiness, which started when she was portrayed as the guilty party on December 27, 2017 when in a tag team match Banks injured Paige, who subsequently had to retire from in-ring competition.
"I feel like it was so much," Banks explained. "I felt like so many bad things kept happening and I didn't know how to deal with them. I think what really started it all, me feeling sad, was the whole Paige situation. That really sucked and having fans destroy me and destroy my work, which I pride myself on so much, and I would never intentionally try to hurt somebody – that really sucked. It made me question myself as a wrestler."
Speculation surrounding her absence immediately began to spread with cryptic social media posts from Banks fueled rumors of an exit.
"At first it really bothered," Banks said. "It was the same way I felt about when the Paige stuff happened. It was like, you guys don't know the full story you don't know the full thing. And then also it's like how the hell do they make this stuff up?
"I saw so much stuff like crying on the floor in the locker room, no, I got undressed, put my clothes on and went out, stood in the fans with Pam [Bayley] watching the main event because I was so happy for those girls. There's rumors that I was crying on the hotel floor, please show me the pictures, please show me the footage.
"You can't let those things destroy you. What I learned in therapy is you can't take those things personally because they don't know me they don't know Mercedes and they don't know Mercedes who plays Sasha Banks or what we go through day to day at TV, live events or at home.
"They're not going to change and I can't change them. Talk about me good or bad it doesn't matter."
At tonight's WWE Clash of Champions, Banks challenges Lynch for the RAW Women's Championship. We will have live coverage of the event here at Wrestling Inc.