The role of women in wrestling has changed
very much over the years, and helping create
this so-called “new era” of women’s
wrestling today is none other than Sasha Banks.
The “Legit Boss” is huge favourite among
fans everywhere and is known for her inspirational
message, great in-ring ability, and eye-catching
style.
She is the current RAW Women’s Champion
at the time of this video, and since her and
Charlotte are headlining the 2016 Hell in
a Cell PPV, there is no better time for Wrestling
Origins: Sasha Banks!
Mercedes Kaestner-Vernado was born on January
26th, 1992, in Fairfield, California.
She has a younger brother who unfortunately
suffers from disabilities, and because of
that the family had to move around quite a
bit to accommodate him.
Other than California, she’s lived in Minnesota,
Iowa, Oregon, and finally Boston.
Mercedes says that when they were growing
up, she was pretty much like a second mom
to him.
Her mother was a single parent and thus couldn’t
always be around, so the responsibility often
fell on Mercedes.
Speaking of her mother, she was very religious
and brought up her children to be the same.
As Christians, they would go to church almost
every day of the week when she was growing
up.
This continued well into her teen years, but
was toned down when she started wrestling.
At around 10 years old, Mercedes discovered
pro-wrestling.
She says as soon as she saw it, she was hooked.
Along with watching WWE, she also watched
All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling.
Side note: Mercedes apparently loves Asian
culture.
Be it Anime, K-Pop, and of course wrestling,
she loves it all.
I’m sure she’s also a fan of rap music,
as Snoop Dogg really is her cousin.
Who else does she love?
Eddie Guerrero.
He’s not only her favourite wrestler, but
also who inspired her to get into wrestling
in the first place.
There’s actually kind of a sad story to
go with that.
Mercedes was in attendance at RAW in 2005
to finally see her hero live in person.
She brought her own sign that said “I Love
Eddie”.
However, everybody else had signs that said
“R.I.P.
Eddie”, but she thought that was simply
because he was facing The Undertaker that
night.
Turns out, that was the day after he had passed
away.
I can only imagine how heartbreaking that
was for her.
Now that everybody is ready to cry let’s
get into her wrestling career.
In 2008, after years of dreaming of becoming
a wrestler, Mercedes finally began training
at Chaotic Wrestling which was located near
Boston.
She would train for a few years before making
her debut on October 1st, 2010, in an intergender
tag team match, which means men could face
women.
She would team with Nikki Roxx under the name
of Mercedes KV, which was a shortened version
of her real name.
Though they lost in her debut, the pair would
begin teaming regularly.
Mercedes would face Danny E. in her debut
singles match, but lost.
Moving to 2011, KV earned her first victory
while teaming with Roxx.
She would also take part in a 5-woman gauntlet
match to crown the Women’s Champion, though
was unsuccessful.
From there she would work multiple singles
matches throughout the year and would win
the Chaotic Wrestling Women’s Championship
in December from Alexxis in an “I Quit”
match.
She would successfully defend this title against
Barbie, as well as Luscious Latasha in January
of 2012.
She would continue to dominate the Women’s
division, even defeating Alexxis in a rematch
as well as picking up two wins against Nikki
Roxx.
Mercedes would become the longest reigning
Chaotic Wrestling Women’s Champion after
holding it for 183 days, and she wouldn’t
stop there.
She would hold her belt all the way until
the end on August 18th, 2012, when she wrestled
her final match in Chaotic.
The title was vacated, ending her reign at
260 days.
It’s worth noting that Mercedes did work
in a few other promotions such as New England
Championship Wrestling and National Wrestling
Alliance starting in 2010, though only for
a few appearances here and there.
In June of 2012, Mercedes participated in
a WWE tryout camp, and on August 18th, the
same day she wrestled her final match in Chaotic,
it was announced she had been signed by the
company and was heading to NXT.
Now under the name Sasha Banks, she would
make her televised debut in a losing effort
against Paige on December 12, 2012.
She wouldn’t get her first win until late
January of 2013 when she beat Alicia Fox.
After a storyline with Audrey Marie who pretended
to be Sasha’s secret admirer, Banks competed
in the NXT Women’s Championship tournament
to crown the inaugural champion, but was eliminated
in the first round.
Moving forward to September, Banks would attack
Paige and align herself with Summer Rae before
debuting her current gimmick of “The Boss”.
Banks and Summer were dubbed the BFFs and
would have some success as a tag team before
Summer was called up to the main roster in
early 2014.
Skipping forward to NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way,
Banks would attack Bayley after her title
match with Charlotte.
Becky Lynch would also turn on Bayley and
align herself with Banks.
From there, Banks would enter a feud with
Charlotte for her Women’s title, though
would fail to capture it on two occasion,
and a third time as well due to disqualification
caused by Becky.
In February of 2015, Sasha would compete in
a fatal four-way match at NXT TakeOver: Rival
against Lynch, Bayley, and Charlotte.
She would emerge victorious, winning the NXT
Women’s Championship for the first time.
She would defend this title multiple times
against the likes of Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch,
and even Charlotte.
She would finally drop it at NXT TakeOver:
Brooklyn to Bayley, ending her reign at 192
days.
This match was excellent and was critically
acclaimed.
It even won match of the year at the NXT Year-End
Awards!
The two would have a rematch at NXT TakeOver:
Respect, though this time in the first ever
female 30-minute Iron Man match.
Banks was defeated in what would be her last
match in NXT.
On July 13th, 2015, Sasha Banks would make
her official main roster debut on RAW alongside
Charlotte and Becky Lynch.
Banks ending up joining Naomi and Tamina to
form Team BAD, while her fellow Horsewomen
created alliances as well.
In her first PPV match, Banks would compete
in a triple threat match against Charlotte
and Brie Bella, where Charlotte won.
Despite not being the number one contender
for the women’s title, Sasha did go on a
bit of a winning streak by defeating the likes
of Paige, Brie Bella, Becky Lynch, and Alicia
Fox.
After being sidelined for a month due to injury,
Banks would return at the 2016 Royal Rumble
and insert herself into the title picture.
She had split from Team BAD and was looking
to become Diva’s Champion.
However, Naomi and Tamina were not happy and
wound up attacking her, turning her face.
This would result in a feud between Banks
and her former teammates, and culminated with
Sasha and her partner Becky getting the win
at Fastlane.
From there, Sasha and Becky would both enter
title contention.
After the rivalry heated up between the three
women, Banks, Lynch, and Charlotte would have
a triple threat WrestleMania match for the
Women’s Championship.
However, Sasha was unable to get the win.
After another injury, Sasha would return in
June of 2016.
She would quickly go after Charlotte once
again, and would defeat both her and Dana
Brooke at Battleground alongside her mystery
partner, Bayley.
Since the 2016 WWE Draft, Sasha has continued
her feud with Charlotte.
She would win the RAW Women’s Championship
for the first time on July 25th, though lost
it at SummerSlam.
Charlotte would hold the belt until October
3rd, when on RAW when she was defeated by
Sasha.
This back and forth has set up a match between
the two inside Hell in a Cell this Sunday.
And that was Wrestling Origins: Sasha Banks.
I think I covered everything important, but
if there’s anything you’d like to add
then be sure to leave a comment down below.
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Thanks for watching, and I’ll catch you
in the next one!
