Sometimes you just have this energy that is palpable. It’s like when Lita and I first faced off. People felt that. When The Rock and Austin faced off, they felt that. When Sasha and I faced off, I felt it too. It was a good moment. Will we follow up on it? If there is an opportunity, perhaps. Did I wish this was a SmackDown tour? Yes, I did.
American professional wrestler and actress
Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado (born January 26, 1992) is an American professional wrestler and actress who is also known as her WWE ring name Sasha Banks and NJPW/Stardom ring name Mercedes Monè.
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Birth Name:
Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado b
Alternative Names:
Mercedes KV
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Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado
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Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado
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Mercedes Varnado
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Sasha Banks
From Wikidata (CC0)
I've always called it about Sasha Banks. Since the day she debuted, even right before she debuted. She has it all, what you look at in a WWE superstar. She's an incredible wrestler and an entertaining superstar. The minute she hits the ramp and comes through the curtain, you're just locked in on her.
During the pandemic, we didn't have live events. We found a way to get a ring and we got a warehouse. There is so much passion in that building. Sasha Banks would drive two hours to come train with me on Monday nights. We would set a timer -- when I speak about passion, Sasha has to be recognized. For no reason, even when she didn't have a match at WrestleMania, this is way before that, once TJ and I got our ring, she would drive a couple hours, get in the ring, and our goal was to wrestle for one hour straight. We'd turn the timer on and built up from 45-minutes. Imagine a 45-minute women's match, we did it non-stop, no break. She has so much passion, but without a ring, it's hard to find resources. It is by invite only because I want to be with people who share the same passion as me. I want to train and learn from them. Tamina has been coming in there. Everyone has seen the changes in Lana, she'll come in, fly in from LA, and just train.
I just think that at that time we were just all at a point in our careers with Sasha and Tamina where we just wanted more and wanted to grow and get better, and there's so much change that's happening in the division and just knowing what such a superstar Sasha was and what she was going to be without a doubt, it was always a pleasure to work with her, to have insight from her, for me, Sasha is like the best we have, in my opinion.
(Nash was asked which current female wrestler he would have wanted as part of NWO) "That would be Sasha [Banks]. I thought her match at SummerSlam that she lost, I thought the psychology was amazing at the end. Yeah, I mean, there was some thought, but there were several times that she had [Asuka] in ? ‘Is she going to tap? No, she’s not going to tap.’ They worked it back and forth, and I thought… I’m not seeing that anywhere else,” admitted Nash. “I mean, I’m seeing it here. I’m seeing it in her match and she’s very attractive. I mean, that goes without saying, but she has that swag. She’s the total package."
Mercedes is such a beautiful blend of so many qualities that are phenomenal. She is one of the hardest workers I've ever met in my entire life. She is grateful and humble. She's incredibly talented and fierce. She is open to learn. She's gonna be a superstar and is absolutely amazing. She is so physically capable and makes it look easy. There are certain things I've been trained to do as a fighter and actor, but when they do it as a living and as an athlete and they are flying around, it's very different than me pretending to do it in a foam pit with a bunch of five-year-olds. I really really want to fight with Sasha. I want Katee Sackhoff to show up and be her tag team partner for a WWE match.
“Mercedes, or she’s known as Sasha Banks in her wrestling career, clearly her persona had a lot of flair. I thought it’s really good for this show to have somebody playing a Mandalodian who had all of that fierceness and energy, and also physicality. Because when you’re breaking a new character in that doesn’t have any roots or history in any of the other Star Wars media, you really want to make a strong impression."
(Flair was asked who she considers to be the GOAT of the women’s division) "I don’t know. Who is my GOAT for the women’s division? Well I would say each year, can they have a new GOAT? Right now, Sasha [Banks] has been the GOAT currently right now. From appearance to character work to matches, she’s absolutely killing it."
(On her Hell in a Cell match with Bayley) "For any new fan watching, especially women, I think it’s so cool to see women do it better than the guys. For my match to be so well-received and for fans to say that I had the match of the night... it's just incredible to be a part of this Women's Evolution where just non-stop fans talk about the women and how incredible that we do."
[On making history with Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 37] You just have to look at the times. That we can have two African-American women potentially main-event is huge, not just for the world of wrestling but for the world all over. For young women and people of every single color to know that nobody can hold them back from their destination and their purpose in life. To make things happen and grow. Because one day we’re not going to [have to say] “first time ever” for anything. It’s just beautiful people, these beautiful human beings, living life and getting to fulfil their dreams like everybody else. Sometimes in this world, people make you hate yourself. People make you question yourself. People feel like they don’t deserve the world when they need to translate that and know that you deserve everything.
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