5 biggest WWE backstage secrets that Sasha Banks revealed

Sasha Banks has been the talk of the WWE Universe ever since she and Bayley lost the Women’s Tag Team titles against The IIconics in a Fatal 4-Way tag match at WrestleMania 35.

The following night, “The Boss” was advertised to participate in a segment with Bayley and Alexa Bliss on Raw. However, she did not appear on the show, and her Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection tag partner faced Bliss in a one-on-one match instead. Although the circumstances behind her Raw no-show have not been confirmed, it is worth noting that Bliss blocked Banks on Twitter after the event due to her being “petty”.

As the days progressed after WrestleMania, there was a new story every day about Banks’ position in WWE, as well as her reaction to losing the tag titles, with some outlets reporting that she requested her release from the company following ‘Mania.

The four-time Raw Women’s champion even cancelled an appearance on the Wendy Williams talk show on Tuesday, citing “personal reasons”, and she has since been posting multiple pictures on social media from her holiday over the last few days with fellow WWE Superstar Kalisto and their partners.

With so many conversations going on about Banks, now seems like the perfect time to delve into the archives to take a look at five WWE backstage secrets that she has revealed during media interviews in recent years.

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#5 How the Women’s Tag Team titles were introduced

Sasha Banks & Bayley outlasted five other teams to win the newly introduced Women’s Tag Team titles at Elimination Chamber in February. They went on to retain the titles at Fastlane, where they defeated Nia Jax & Tamina, before losing against The IIconics at WrestleMania 35.

Speaking to Sky Sports in March 2019, Banks explained how both she and Bayley spent much of 2018 “annoying” Vince McMahon until he finally announced on the Christmas Eve episode of Raw that the titles would be introduced in 2019.

She said:

“It felt like the whole of last year we were asking, like we would be knocking on the door of Vince's office every week. Me and Bayley would go up to him and some weeks he'd say no and some weeks he'd say yes and then bam, it's here. So that just proves that you should never give up on your dreams. If you're annoying enough you can make things happen and that's probably what happened, he just got annoyed with us."

#4 She suffered a concussion in 2018

In 2018, Sasha Banks teamed with Bayley to defeat Dana Brooke & Ember Moon on the September 3 episode of Raw. Following the show, she did not compete in a televised match again until she lost against Ruby Riott on October 22, and her absence was not explained on WWE programming.

Speaking on Conversations with Maria Menounos, the former NXT Women’s champion revealed that she had post-concussion symptoms which prevented her from driving and sleeping, let alone wrestling.

She said (quotes via TPWW):

"I was having head pain and I couldn’t function. I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t sleep, and I’m like, I need to go get checked out. And I went to several neurologists and they pretty much told me that I have like, post-concussion symptoms, so just rest, rest, rest."

Fortunately for Banks, she made her in-ring return just in time to take part at WWE Evolution, where she teamed with Bayley & Natalya in a victory over The Riott Squad.

#3 The origin of “The Boss” nickname

There are several nicknames in WWE which have never been fully explained. Bray Wyatt, for example, is “The Eater of Worlds”, but what does that exactly mean? Dean Ambrose is “The Lunatic Fringe”, but why?

Sasha Banks is another Superstar who fits into that category. Known as “The Legit Boss” since her early days in NXT, the nickname sounds good but, like Wyatt and Ambrose, it doesn’t make much sense. Why is she a “boss” and why does Michael Cole scream “It’s Boss Time!” every time she appears?

Speaking to The Hot Ones in 2018, Banks revealed that the nickname is actually inspired by her cousin, Snoop Dogg, as she found it catchy when his bodyguards used to refer to him as “boss”.

"When I was around him, his bodyguards would always call him 'boss', and I was like, 'That's kind of catchy. That's a good little nickname.' So I was like, 'Sasha Banks the Boss,' and then it turned to 'The Legit Boss.'"

#2 WWE Divas were not allowed to punch

In modern-day WWE, the women on Raw and SmackDown Live often compete in matches that are as good, if not better, than the men. However, as Sasha Banks revealed on Talk Is Jericho in 2015, before the rise of NXT and the Divas Revolution/Women’s Evolution, WWE’s women were taught a completely different style of wrestling to the men.

She explained that she was told to "not throw punches, kicks, elbows, forearms and strikes" when she first arrived in WWE’s developmental system, and the up-and-comers in NXT were instructed to "work the Divas way".

The training changed when NXT coach Sara Amato, aka Sara Del Rey, joined the company and pushed for the women to train in the same way that the men do.

Banks added:

“When Sara Del Rey was brought in, she trained us differently, it was not like the Divas. We were trained like the men.”

#1 Her marriage to Sarath Ton

If you are a WWE viewer who follows the ins and outs and backstage goings-on of the business, it is common knowledge nowadays that Sasha Banks is married to WWE costume designer Sarath Ton.

Back in 2017, however, their marriage was less public. In fact, Banks had not referred to her husband on social media or in any media interviews until she finally spoke about him for the first time during an appearance on Lilian Garcia’s ‘Making Their Way To The Ring’ show.

She said (quotes via Cageside Seats):

“Yes. I’ll tell you. You’re the first one I’ve admitted it to. I am married. I just hide it because our fans are so crazy sometimes, you know? I don’t know, I just think fans are just so crazy. I see what they write to him on Twitter, and I don’t like that stuff. If you’re saying he’s ugly, or he shouldn’t be with me because of this or that, that hurts me, you know? I just don’t like that he gets... he reads that every day, you know what I mean? And he’s such an amazing person.”