WWE Women’s Champion Sasha Banks says she wants to be remembered as the greatest women’s wrestler of all-time. She recently spoke with The Kingston Whig-Standard to promote SummerSlam and was asked about her legacy. She said:
“I remember writing in my journal when I was 10 that I wanted to be the greatest women’s wrestler of all time, so that’s how I want to be remembered. I just want people to look back and be like, ‘Oh my God, that Sasha Banks, she was amazing,’ or ‘I want to study Sasha Banks so I can be like her,’ or ‘I want to be better than Sasha Banks because she’s the best.’ That’s how I want to be remembered, as the absolute best of all time.”
Regarding the WWE brand split, The Boss believes it’s a good thing and hopes SmackDown gets their own gold.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for women. With all of us on the same roster, it was very hard to fight for time. We were barely given any time. Just on Raw, which is a three-hour show, we were given like two minutes, three minutes. Now that we’re both on separate brands, we saw this week, there was two women’s matches on SmackDown, the week before there were two segments of women’s matches. I think it’s a great opportunity. I’m hoping that they get a women’s title for SmackDown and the women’s division can fight for that. Our division is going to keep on growing and growing. With me as champion, I’m definitely going to show what our division is about. I think it’s a great opportunity for groups of women because both women on both sides are amazing competitors.”
Finally, Sasha had nothing but praise for Stephanie McMahon. She commented:
“She is a huge role model not just for girls outside of WWE, but for us. She is so strong in the way that she carries herself. Any time she’s backstage, she’ll talk to us, she’ll give us advice, she always gives me a huge when I see her. I think little things like that, when a boss — she is a boss, just like me — that she actually cares about what we’re doing and I think that’s so special. She is absolutely incredible. I look up to her because she is so strong and so powerful in the way that she conducts herself. I think that’s how all women should be in the WWE. She’s professional to a tee. I have so many good things to say about her.”
Check out the full interview with Sasha on TheWhig.com at this link.
Sasha Banks sees big things in the future for WWE’s Women’s division. In an interview on ESPN’s Off The Top Rope segment with Jonathan Coachman this week, and predicted that women will eventually main event some of WWE’s biggest pay-per-views. Banks says she plans to steal the show at Sunday’s SummerSlam with Charlotte.
“We are not Divas anymore. We are Superstars. We are equal,” Sasha said. “We are proving every single week that we can do it better than the guys and I prove it every time I go out there. My biggest dream is to main event a WrestleMania and I guarantee you that is going to happen.”
Banks explained that she got emotional when she defeated Charlotte for the Women’s Championship on RAW because her dream was to be in WWE for so long. Banks predicts that the next breakout female star on the roster will be Bayley when she gets called up from NXT.
She also talked about her cousin, Snoop Dogg. Banks says Snoop has supported her dream of joining WWE the whole way, and it was a dream come true for him to perform her entrance song at WrestleMania earlier this year. She noted that Snoop’s nickname with his friends is “The Boss.”
– RAW GM Mick Foley is crediting Diamond Dallas Page for helping with his recent weight loss. Foley wrote the following on his goal of 258 pounds and a recent visit to the DDPYoga Performance Center near Atlanta:
– Mauro Ranallo confirmed on Twitter that he will be working the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II pre-show panel on Saturday night with Renee Young and others. The Takeover pre-show kicks off at 7:30pm EDT on the WWE Network. The actual Takeover event is scheduled to air from 8pm EDT until 10:30pm. There will also be a Takeover preview show on Wednesday night at 8pm EDT on the WWE Network.
– This WWE SummerSlam ad features Women’s Champion Sasha Banks cutting a promo on her “spoiled brat” opponent Charlotte:
– As seen below, Darren Young did some jiu-jitsu training with Jeff Huang this weekend. Huang wrote the following about coaching Young:
– Cody Rhodes noted on Twitter that the new theme song he uses on the indys will feature his own voice at the beginning.
– After being inspired by the KISS Cruise, Chris Jericho says he’s considering a cruise that will mix pro wrestling and rock & roll. He tweeted this survey to gauge fan interest:
What do u think of a Jericho Cruise combining rock music & wrestling? Would u go? Tell me ur thoughts w this survey:https://t.co/UGzXdkw23U
– The current Eva Marie storyline on SmackDown has received some negative remarks from fans on social media but Eva has at least one fan: Paige. The Anti-Diva praised Eva and the angle during last night’s SmackDown Live:
– American Alpha’s opponents on last night’s SmackDown were California indy wrestlers Mikey O’Shea and Mike Vega. Check out the post-match segment with American Alpha facing off with other SmackDown tag teams below:
– As seen on last night’s SmackDown, Heath Slater stormed off after his loss to Rhyno as Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan were about to offer him a deal despite the loss. In the backstage video below, Slater rants to Charly Caruso about getting nothing but disrespect in return:
– WWE Shop has released new commemorative plaques for Sasha Banks’ Women’s Title win, seen below:
During a recent media conference call to promote next weekend’s SummerSlam event, WWE Women’s Champion Sasha Banks spoke about a number of topics, including the backstage reaction to her title win, Mick Foley’s recent blog praising her and how the brand extension is affecting WWE’s female athletes. Here are some highlights, courtesy of Planeta Wrestling:
– When asked if she’d consider adding a stipulation to her match against Charlotte at SummerSlam, she replied, “No stipulation, no! I just want to whip her butt.” She added that she’s looking forward to the event being in Brooklyn, and that last year’s great match with Bayley at NXT: Brooklyn wasn’t a fluke.
– She wants to be remembered as the greatest women’s wrestler of all time. She wants future generations of women’s wrestlers to study her as what they strive to be.
– Regarding Mick Foley’s recent blog about her Women’s championship victory, she was proud to hear the locker room was watching her match on the monitors backstage. In previous years men wouldn’t watch the women’s matches and when they did, it was to mock the women. Now she, Charlotte and others are putting on some of the best matches on the card.
-The most important thing she learned since joining the main roster was to be herself and always stand up for what you believe in.
– She would love to have a Fatal-4 Way with the Four Horsewomen again, and hopes that it can happen at a WrestleMania.
– She thinks the brand extension is a great opportunity for more of WWE’s women to shine. Prior to the draft, it was hard for everybody to get television time. She hopes SmackDown gets a proper women’s division and she’ll continue setting the bar on RAW.
During Friday’s UFC 202 media conference call, Conor McGregor trashed WWE Superstars, saying most of them are messed up p*ssies. He respected that Brock Lesnar got back in the Octagon, but slammed him for being “juiced up to the eyeballs.” He respects The McMahons, Triple H and The Rock, but “the rest of them are “f*cking p*ssies.”
As you can imagine, McGregor was met with a strong backlash on social media from WWE’s rabid fanbase. “The Notorious” clarified that he wasn’t insulting WWE fans, but doubled down on his position regarding WWE Superstars.
I didn't mean no disrespect to the @wwe fans. What I meant to say was that I'd slap the head off your entire roster. And twice on Sunday's.
– WWE.com put together a list of 10 of “the hottest” free agents on the market right now and a few former Superstars are mentioned, including Mickie James.
Do Raw and SmackDown Live have James on the brain?
New blood has invigorated the Women’s division in WWE, but few would argue that seeing a veteran like Mickie James come to Raw or SmackDown Live to square off with the likes of Sasha Banks, Charlotte or Becky Lynch wouldn’t be a sight to behold.
The list also includes The Rock, The Undertaker, Nikki Bella, The Brian Kendrick, Bayley, Cryme Tyme, Carlito, The Great Khali and Tajiri.
– Sasha Banks has been pulled from her scheduled appearance at the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con in the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, on Aug. 18. Bayley will take her place. Click here for details on her schedule.
– A preview of Disney’s 3D computer-animated film Moana with The Rock voicing a lead character will air during NBC’s coverage of the Olympics on Sunday night.
The Boss is officially off the market. WWE Women’s Champion Sasha Banks got married over the weekend to WWE seamster and costume designer Mikaze (Sarath Ton).
Prior to working for WWE full time behind the scenes, Ton wrestled on the independent scene as Kid Mikaze. He even wrestled a squash match against Ryback as “Rutherford Hayes” (above). He’s made several cameos on Xavier Woods’ UpUpDownDown Youtube series.
Ton came to work for WWE after company officials were impressed with the work he did on Sasha’s costumes. During an April 2015 interview with the Miami Herald, Banks raved about how much she loves his work:
“Most recently I haven’t been able to pick out what colors I wanted or scheme,” Banks said. “I just had him do it, because now he knows what I want. He envisions it. I just tell him, ‘I want to look the best, the greatest. Just do your thing,’ and he always makes me look amazing.”
The following photo from the couple’s wedding has been circulating online today – congratulations to the newlywed couple!
– SmackDown Superstar Rhyno was successful in his bid to win the primary to become Michigan State Representative of the 15th district. Rhyno won with 38% of the vote, beating out opponents Paul Sophia and Richard Johnson. For more information, visit WZYZ.com.
– The dark match after last night’s WWE SmackDown in Nashville saw Roman Reigns and John Cena defeat AJ Styles and Seth Rollins. Reigns speared fellow RAW star Rollins to win.
Bayley made her main roster debut last weekend at Battleground, shocking the WWE Universe as Sasha Banks’ “surprise opponent” against Charlotte and Dana Broke. It was billed as a “one night guest spot” for Bayley, but Sasha Banks is ready to ‘kidnap’ NXT’s resident hugger and bring her to the main roster permanently.
Bayley is scheduled to challenge Asuka for the NXT Women’s Championship during SummerSlam weekend at NXT Takeover: Back to Brooklyn in a match that could see her become the first 2-time champ. It’s expected that Bayley will be graduating from NXT shortly after SummerSlam, with Cageside Seats reporting that WWE officials are already consdiering Sasha Banks vs Bayley as the Women’s title match for WrestleMania 33.
However that plays out, here’s the Twitter exchange between the two from Sunday afternoon. As such close friends, this has the makings of a money feud.
Anyone have a time machine I can borrow? Take me back to one week ago.
– WWE Women’s Champion Sasha Banks topped this week’s WWE Power Rankings, which has to be one of the first times a woman has ranked #1 on the list. As announced yesterday, she’ll defend the title against Charlotte at WWE SummerSlam in just 3 weeks.
– Today marks 1 year since the passing of wrestling legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. His longtime friend Ric Flair remembered his fallen brother with this tweet. Looking at the photo of Flair and Piper in a car, imagine being in the back seat with those two for a night on the town. RIP Roddy Piper.
A year ago today I lost one of my best friends and the world lost one of its best men. I miss you Roddy. #RIPRoddypic.twitter.com/NHtM1ufAtZ
It sounds like former WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte may not have requested time off from the road after all.
Regarding reports that Charlotte dropped the Women’s title before originally planned at SummerSlam due to wanting time off, PWInsider.com reported on Friday that Charlotte is still scheduled for all future bookings. She reportedly did not request time off, nor were there any internal discussions by management about her being written off TV.
PWInsider reports that two factors contributed to putting the Women’s Title on Sasha Banks before SummerSlam. One was to kick off the first RAW of the “new era” with a surprise title change, and another reason was that company chairman Vince McMahon felt Charlotte had established the title enough for a change of hands now. Vince is said to be a fan of Charlotte and plans to keep her as a main character on TV.
Triple H is reportedly Sasha Banks’ biggest fan within management. Back in May it was reported that Vince McMahon has concerns about Sasha being injury-prone.
– Today’s wrestling birthdays include New #1 contender Dolph Ziggler (36) Triple H (47), Shannon Moore (37), Manny Fernandez (62) and Greg Gagne (68). The late Matt Osborne (“Doink the Clown”) would have been 57.
– Former WWE star Wade Barrett started filming his first post-WWE project this week in London, a new film titled Vengeance. Below are comments from Barrett and a photo with co-star Sapphire Elia:
– Kalisto defeated Viktor in the dark match before tonight’s WWE SmackDown in Buffalo.
– Fandango took to Twitter today to respond to Randy Orton’s shots during The Highlight Reel with Fandango’s WrestleMania 29 opponent Chris Jericho on Sunday at Battleground. He posted this video:
– After attacking The New Day during their in-ring celebration last night on RAW, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson cut a promo backstage talking about how The Club now runs RAW and SmackDown. They said New Day are nothing but jokes and The Club and they’ll days as WWE tag team champions are numbered. The two teams will likely settle their differences at SummerSlam and will be facing each other at WWE live events through September.
– After finally making his main roster debut last night on RAW, Finn Balor asked his Twitter followers if the debut was worth the wait. Balor has been trolling fans for months, constantly teasing that he’d be showing up on WWE television.
Sasha Banks had a hell of a night on RAW, capturing the WWE Women’s Championship from Charlotte in a moment that will be remembered for a long time to come. The Boss cut an emotional promo in the ring after her victory and the celebration continued backstage.
WWE published these of Banks after her win, showing off a little souvenir she took from Charlotte and “Facetiming” her WWE Battleground partner Bayley.
Meanwhile, the former champion tweeted the following on Tuesday morning, reflecting on an emotional loss and vowing to “carry on.”
Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte to become the new WWE Women’s Champion on tonight’s RAW from Pittsburgh. The Boss won her first main roster title by submission in the middle of the ring after one hell of a match. Congratulations to Sasha Banks!
Bayley made her WWE main roster debut at Battleground tonight as Sasha Banks’ mystery partner. They defeated Dana Brooke and WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte in the PPV opener.
Cesaro does not sound thrilled about how things unfolded last night at the WWE Draft and is fed up with people focusing on McMahon family drama and General Managers instead of what actually matters: wrestling.
JoJo caught up with the Swiss Superman backstage at the WWE Draft and asked how he feels about being drafted to RAW. Cesaro took offense to being drafted in the 6th round (17th overall pick) and said he expected to be at least a Top 10 pick. He then went on a rant about having to overcome hurdles throughout his entire WWE run and showed a great deal of frustration when asked how he thinks Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley will be able to get along. The tension was palpable, with Dave Meltzer confirming that this interview was in fact unscripted.
Sasha Banks, who was also drafted to RAW, gave Cesaro a virtual round of applause, sympathizing with his sentiments and letting him know she’s all to familiar with what he said.
– Sasha Banks vs. Dana Brooke in a RAW rematch will also take place on this week’s SmackDown. Charlotte indicated on RAW that if Sasha defeats Dana again, she’s in line for a WWE Women’s Title shot.
– Former rival John Cena tweeted the following on Brock Lesnar’s big UFC 200 win over Mark Hunt:
– While she’s expected to be called to the main roster soon, Bayley says she still has her eye on Asuka’s NXT Women’s Title. She tweeted the following over the weekend, teasing big plans for 2016:
This road to the championship seems all too familiar. If you thought 2015 was a big year….Just wait. pic.twitter.com/HVITYEtykc
Bob Backlund made his first live televised appearance since starting the Make Darren Young Great Again angle on RAW, and he’ll be making his second one this week on SmackDown. It was announced on Monday’s show that Backlund and Young will be guests on Miz TV on Thursday’s episode of SmackDown. Young won a battle royal on RAW to become the #1 contender for The Miz’s Intercontinental Title, and the two have a match scheduled for Battleground.
Sasha Banks defeated Dana Brooke on RAW, and the rematch is scheduled for this week’s SmackDown. If Banks wins again, she gets a shot at Charlotte’s Women’s Championship.
Other stars advertised for Thursday night’s show include WWE Champion Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sheamus, and Alberto Del Rio.
This week’s episode of SmackDown is taped on Tuesday night at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We’ll have live play-by-play coverage, photos, and discussion right here on SEScoops.com on Tuesday night. This will be the last installment of the show to air on a Thursday night, as SmackDown moves to Tuesdays live starting next week on the 19th.
– WWE did not announce Brock Lesnar’s WWE SummerSlam opponent at tonight’s SmackDown tapings in Toledo. The announcement will be edited into Thursday’s broadcast. SmackDown airs on Wednesday nights in select markets across the world, so we’ll know who Lesnar’s SummerSlam opponent will be tomorrow.
– As noted, WWE US Champion Rusev will defend against Zack Ryder on Monday’s RAW from Detroit. Another match confirmed for Monday is Sasha Banks vs. Dana Brooke.
– Sasha Banks was Michael Cole’s guest for this week’s WWE.com sitdown interview. The Boss discusses her Muscle & Fitness Hers cover shoot, paying tribute to Eddie Guerrero at WrestleMania 32 and how she helped transform a Divas Revolution into a Women’s Evolution in WWE.
– The final rating for Monday’s WWE RAW from Tampa was a 2.21, down from last week’s 2.44. As noted, the show drew 3.093 million viewers, down from last week’s 3.467 million.
– Darren Young recently paid his respects at a local memorial for the Pulse nightclub terror attack victims and met survivor Angel Santiago, seen below in this tweet from WWE Community:
