WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks has opened up about how she asked to leave the company in 2019, saying she “couldn’t even look at herself” in the mirror at one point.
Speaking with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin on WWE Network’s Broken Skull Sessions, The Boss bravely detailed how she would become overwhelmed by everything – and ultimately decided leaving the business may be necessary.
“So, I’m home, not even seeing what my real hair looks like. All I see is purple hair every single day. There were just so many things that were just — I let it control me. I let it take it and be like, ‘This is too much’ instead of being like, ‘You know what? Everything’s good. Breathe. Everything’s fine.’ [Laughs]”
Despite having just competed on the Grandest Stage of Them All, The Boss would then be rocked by personal crisis, which saw her cancel an appearance on talk show ‘Wendy’ at the last minute. Banks continued, detailing how she ultimately felt like she’d lost herself, and her sense of direction, and wasn’t the person she had dreamt of becoming for her entire life previous.
“I couldn’t even look at myself. I didn’t even know who the hell I was. How I was going into work, how angry I was going in, how sad I was. I was not the person that I dreamt to be.”
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For the now SmackDown Women’s Champion, and Mandalorian Star, the only option was to walk away – which The Boss details was “one of the hardest things” she’s had to do.
“It hit the fan and I wanted to make sure that I didn’t lose myself. So I said, ‘You know what? I got to take a step away and find myself again and I gotta be brave about that.’ And that was probably one of the hardest things I had to do — ask to leave the WWE.”
WWE CEO Vince McMahon, though, wasn’t prepared to let one of the company’s biggest stars go without a fight, as Banks reveals he met her request with a one-word answer.
“I asked to leave and Vince was like, ‘No.’”
The Boss went on to say that McMahon said he would give her 30 days away to think about it.
