Sasha Banks on Facing Bayley at WWE NXT “Takeover: Brooklyn” Tonight and More

– WWE NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks recently spoke with Complex to promote SummerSlam week. Below are highlights:

Big week for you, with TakeOver and SummerSlam. How are you feeling?

Honestly, I feel like I’m on cloud nine. I am extremely nervous, excited, beyond the moon. I have so many mixed emotions, because I have two big matches back-to-back and I’m so nervous. I’m so excited for TakeOver. I can’t wait for my match against Bayley and the next night, I get to have my first SummerSlam, so I’m beyond blessed right now.

Only you and Kevin Owens are pulling double-duty those two nights, which shows how much trust WWE has in you. They’re just throwing you guys out there and seeing what happens.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. It just shows that they put faith in me, especially as a woman. That’s just beyond crazy to me. Even [this past Monday], to have my match against Nikki Bella, I’m just like, “My life, it’s unbelievable right now.” It’s like so many things are happening and it just keeps getting bigger and better.

You mentioned the match against Bayley. Obviously, NXT is growing, but there are still people that are going to tune in for the first time this weekend. What should they expect from Sasha Banks vs. Bayley?

What should they expect? They should expect the greatest women’s match they’ve ever seen in their whole life. That’s the match I’m going to have this Saturday. It’s crazy how far we’ve come, because me and Bayley started with each other.

My first real feud at NXT was against her, all of my matches were against her. To see how far I’ve come from 2012 to 2015, it’s almost full-circle that we’re coming back to this place and I get to have this match against her, and in our first Pay-Per-View outside of Florida, and it’s sold-out.

It’s going to be at the same place as SummerSlam, and it’s just like, “Where is NXT going?” It’s so crazy to see how far it’s grown and how big it’s getting. The fact that they put trust in NXT, that we can have a sold-out arena like this, it’s unbelievable. This is just a start, who knows how big it’s going to get? I’m so excited to be a part of it and I’m so excited to watch it grow and to be the NXT Women’s Champion for them.

Moving to the in-ring product, there’s been a noticeable shift towards submission wrestling from the women in NXT: you swapped from the “Bankrupt” to the “Banks Statement.” Becky’s got the awesomely named “DisArmHer,” Charlotte has the “Figure 8.” How did that happen?

Honestly, I don’t know how that happened. I remember looking around and everyone had a submission. I knew that I wanted my finisher to be unique and something that I’ve never seen before, and I had never seen the combination of a backstabber into a crossface.

I’m like, “This is pretty cool,” but looking around, a lot of the women have submissions. It’s always good to have in your back pocket, to have a submission and also just a regular finisher to pull out of nowhere. You might see something new at NXT Takeover, so be prepared for that.

Finally, what do you think is next for both the Divas Revolution as a whole, and specifically for Sasha Banks, after this weekend?

I’m here to lead my team to victory and just to show the world that I’m here to be the best. What’s next for Sasha Banks? I want that Divas Championship. I want to be the NXT and the Diva’s Champion. That’s what I’m looking forward to.

Definitely, [on Monday], beating Nikki gave me a lot of confidence that I can do that and I can chase that dream. I’m actually really excited to see what’s going to happen for the Divas after SummerSlam, because I don’t even know what’s yet to come.

I’ve just been so focused on my match with Bayley, that I can’t wait until that’s over, so I can think about the SummerSlam match. I don’t know, I’m excited. I don’t know what the future’s going to hold, but I just know that it’s going to be really great things. We’ll find out after SummerSlam.

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