When it comes to my geeky pro wrestling posts, such as this one, I like to write toward those who may not be as familiar with profession wrestling, and add in context. To that point, if you’re not familiar with Sasha Banks, she’s one of the “Four Horsewomen,” (a play on the classic 1980s stable of male wrestlers The Four Horseman, which consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard) who came out of WWE’s third brand, NXT, along with Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair (yes, that Flair), and Bayley.
In 2015, Sasha Banks and Bayley helped to set the “women’s revolution” in WWE and pro wrestling afire. A few others did important things prior to those two, including Charlotte and Paige, and all the women that came before them who didn’t get as much of a platform or a chance to show what they could do with their talents, such as AJ Lee, Beth Phoenix, Melina, Michelle McCool, and so on. In other words, when women’s wrestling was less of a priority, and at times, one could barely use the word “wrestling” as it was mostly seen as an attraction, literally, for men, by having “bra and panties” matches, which are exactly what they sound like.
I spoke more about the revolution in mid-2015 here.
At that time, Sasha was only 23-years-old (!) and already being considered the greatest female professional wrestler ever. Seriously. Again, that’s because her and Bayley had two killer pay-per-view main event matches (a first at the time) that showed the world something we already knew but were waiting to see: Women can do this, too.
I wrote this at the time:
I know there are some eye-rollers out there, but Sasha is truly the total package and is must-see. She has her “Boss” character down, she can talk, she’s athletic, she can wrestle and she’s charismatic. If WWE can stay consistent with her, she could be the best women’s wrestler of all time. Some even think she’s already the best in-ring talent of all time and that’s hard to dispute.
It’s also fun to look back on that five years ago because Becky Lynch, who at the time seemed like a step below the other three, would be the one who undeniably broke out the most as a star.
But it’s interesting: In my comments five years ago, I mentioned that Sasha “can talk.” However, since she moved to the main roster (a phrase people use to mean, she was “called up” from NXT to WWE Raw and/or SmackDown), and became more of a babyface, there’s been a perception that Sasha can’t talk, that her “mic skills,” as fans call it, are not up to par with, say, a Becky.
That’s nonsense, though, and if the story between Sasha and Bayley over the last number of weeks doesn’t dispel that misnomer, then nothing will. To step back: Sasha and Bayley had been running roughshod over the competition during the Pandemic Era (as it’s been called) in WWE, with Bayley as SmackDown Women’s Champion after a heel turn where she became sort of the embodiment of the Karen meme (her previous character was an affable, hugging babyface), Sasha as the Raw Women’s Champion, and both as the Women’s Tag Team Champions.
But eventually, aside from Bayley’s single’s title, the titles fell to the wayside, and then Bayley turned on Sasha.
By doing this, Bayley cemented herself as the bad guy, and Sasha turned back to being a babyface. This is the story fans have wanted for a very, very long time. That is, the Sasha/Bayley story from NXT in 2015, but on the main stage because of that potential. It’s been teased and the trigger pulled, and then pulled back, and teased, and delayed and delayed, and five years later, we’re finally here. It’s finally happening.
The story now is that Bayley thinks she doesn’t need Sasha anymore, that Sasha is dead weight, and Sasha, aside from wanting revenge for Bayley’s dastardly attacks, thinks she’s a bigger star than Bayley ever was or will be, and she’ll rue the day she dumped Sasha’s friendship.
WWE has been subtle about this, planting seeds for months and months that these two power-hungry heels were eventually going to split. It was well-done storytelling. And to the point of this blog post, Sasha is the total package, and that includes killing it on the mic. She may have given her best promo ever two weeks after that attack from Bayley:
And I can’t link it here, but she also gave a great promo on WWE’s interview show, Talking Smack, which airs on Saturday mornings, the day after SmackDown on Friday. That’s what the pictures in this post of Sasha are from.
Sasha is the total package still. That “package” has been sidelined for the last five years, all things considered, and only during the Pandemic Era have we really started to see what Sasha is capable of on the “main roster.” She has the intangible “it” factor to be the star of WWE, if they keep going with this. She’s that good. And part of that reason is her swagger and confidence on the microphone.
Anyone who thinks she can’t talk, I’m not sure what they’re listening to. And I couldn’t even entertain the notion that someone think Sasha isn’t the total package. Again, she was proving five years ago that she was the best women’s wrestler in the world, and in that time, she’s only gotten better.
What do you think about Sasha Banks as pro wrestler, including her mic skills? What do you think of the Sasha Banks and Bayley storyline?
Milam's Musings 