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What’s the story?
On a recent edition of The Steve Austin Show, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Sasha Banks revealed the origins of their respective WWE characters.
Additionally, Banks credited her cousin, Snoop Dogg, for inspiring her WWE gimmick, besides also asserting that she prefers playing a heel rather than being a babyface. Speaking about his ‘Stone Cold’ character, Austin insinuated that after several failures in his career, he finally realised that a character/gimmick was essential to his success as a pro-wrestler.
In case you didn’t know…
‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was fired from WCW in the 90s, but moved on to the WWE, eventually portraying the ‘Stone Cold’ persona which earned him global recognition and helped the WWE beat WCW in the Monday night ratings war.
On the other hand, ‘The Legit Boss’ Sasha Banks entered the WWE as a highly technical professional wrestler, but was bereft of an intriguing character or gimmick, before adopting The Boss persona and achieving tremendous success on the main roster in the WWE.
The heart of the matter
Steve Austin praised Sasha Banks, and said that her Legit Boss gimmick is one of his favourites in the WWE today, and also said that he loves her work as a heel, since her character truly shines through as a villain.
Banks responded by saying that she prefers being a heel as well, "I've been thinking about that a lot lately because usually I just say, 'both' just to give that bland answer. But I do enjoy working heel…It's I feel more comfortable. I feel more free. I feel like I'm being more myself”
Banks added that she dreaded the time she started off in WWE as a bland babyface, and she’s still learning how to be a legit pro-wrestling babyface. Steve Austin doubled down on the gimmick dynamics, adding that when he was ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin and ‘The Ringmaster’, he was just a good wrestler and his persona didn't quite shine through. He added that despite being given the 'Stunning' moniker by Dutch Mantel, he felt that he really lacked character, which is why he eventually changed and evolved into ‘Stone Cold’.
Furthermore, Sasha Banks stated that Tyler Breeze encouraged her to come up with a new gimmick in promo class. After seeing many refer to her cousin Snoop Dogg as the boss, she ‘stole’ that nickname from him and started portraying a flashy, cocky character as ‘The Boss’ Sasha Banks.
What’s next?
Sasha Banks presently performs on the WWE’s RAW brand, and is in the midst of a faction feud between the RAW Women’s Division and Absolution (Paige, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville).
Author’s take
Sasha is indeed better as a heel than she is as a bland babyface.
Besides, could you possibly imagine Stone Cold starting off as a boring babyface? That would’ve likely killed off his character right away. Here’s little gem to remind you of Stone Cold’s brilliance as the anti-hero.
