For me, I've always told myself, 'I can only do me in the ring.' When I go out there and perform, I can only do what Sasha Banks can do.
From my mom telling me 'no' to now telling everyone I'm the champion, and she's so proud of me, and to prove to a lot of people - who didn't believe in me, who didn't think I was going to be here - that I'm here, and I did it. It's been a roller coaster of emotions; it's amazing.
My mom was like, 'What did I do as a mom for you to want to become a wrestler?' They just didn't understand, and it's really hard to explain what made me love wrestling so much. There's something about it that made me fall in love, and ever since I laid my eyes on it, I knew I wanted to be a professional wrestler in the WWE.
The Boss doesn't need friends, but the ones I do have, I keep very close.
I didn't want to walk into WWE and be someone who just does bikini matches and played second fiddle to the guys. I wanted to stand out, make people excited to see women's wrestling, and show them we can be better than the men.
People dream to be in the WWE, but my dream is to be the best in the WWE. They can have the money and fame. My dream is to become known as the greatest wrestler of all time.
It's really cool to see how many people try to imitate me or wear my stuff. I get a lot of Instagram videos of people doing my entrance. I think that's so cool. To see the variety of people, little girls, guys, doing it. I never really thought that would happen. It's amazing.
We don't feel like we're famous. We just feel like we're doing what we love.
I've always known that I wanted to be different. I wanted to stand out, so my gear is very elaborate, very blingy, very loud, because I want people to notice me, want to look like me. The Boss necklace, the ring. I want everything big.
When I was 12, I was living in Iowa, and I emailed so many wrestling schools, and one of them was actually in Boston. I joined it at 18 - the New England Pro Wrestling Academy. They were doing a fantasy camp. I was 17 about to turn 18. I told my mom, 'I'm 18 now. I just signed these papers by myself, and I'm going to do this.'
I know that at 'NXT TakeOver' and the fatal four-way, we'll definitely have people saying, 'Oh my God, those were not Divas; those were superstars right there.'
I was born in California and moved around a lot. When I was 17, I moved to Boston because my mom got a job there. The moment I went to Boston, everything just felt right and fell into place on how I wanted it to be.
I call Boston home because it's where I started coming into my own.
Patience is key. You can't get selfish, and that's the number one thing I've learned at WWE. The world continues to go round, and I just knew - given the right opportunity and the right moment - that the world would know I was good, but now the world knows that I'm great.
I just remember that when I started at NXT, I had no character. I had nothing. I was just so excited to be here and just to be a wrestler.
I told everyone that I was going to be a pro wrestler ever since I was 10 years old, and now I can show them that I did it.
I get people who come up to me and are like, 'You make me wanna live my dream.' I was them, so I'm like, 'Me, out of all people? No way.' Eddie Guerrero did that for me, so to have little girls and guys tell me I inspire them, I didn't know that came with the job, but it's so cool.
When you have little girls bringing you your action figures for you to sign, it's like, 'Wow, things are happening, and dreams do come true.'
First-ever woman to have an iron-man match. It's been such a long time, to be the second woman ever to main event a Raw.
We are at a point now where people respect us and respect our work - the guys want to sit down and watch women's matches.
To me, my dream is just to have it all. I would love to be the first woman to have a ladder match, the first woman to have a Money in the Bank match. That's just a dream of mine, but that's such a far dream that who knows if that's going to happen?
I always try to outdo the guys. It doesn't matter who you are. Even Sami Zayn - I want to have a better match than Sami Zayn, and he is absolutely incredible. I knew at a very young age that I wanted to change the definition of what it is to be a Diva and what it is to be a woman's wrestler.
I went from two-minute matches when I started with NXT to eight, to 10, to 12.
I used to work at a hotel. I was the order-taker for room service. My mom worked at the hotel as an accountant.
Back in the day when I started on the independent scene, guys would not watch women's matches, and if they did, they would do it to make fun of us.
I definitely would like to work with Nia Jax; she's something different that I haven't had yet. I didn't have someone like her to work with in NXT, so I think I would like to work with her next. I think that would be a great feud.
It's really cool, the opportunities that NXT brings. Who would ever thought that Jushin Liger would be in this company, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn? It's crazy. Man, I don't know, bring anybody. I want to wrestle with everybody. Even I want to wrestle Jushin Liger, so I'm jealous.
The Divas Revolution didn't have the great start that I wanted it to have, but through time, it has got to where I want it to be, starting with the Triple Threat Match at Wrestle Mania. Our faces were in the middle of the stadium, which proves we are getting equal opportunities.
I would absolutely love to wrestle Sami Zayn because he's absolutely one of my favorites to watch. I think me and his style would just work. That would definitely be a dream match of mine.
I was in the independent scene for two years before I got the call from the WWE.
After a pay per view, I know there is TV the next day. But after Raw, I like to eat bad. I can have some pizza, French fries, a burger, live it up, a glass of wine - red, of course.
People are talking about women's wrestling, and that's all I've ever wanted since I was ten years old. I wanted people to talk about the women and all they could do. We're celebrating women's wrestling. People want to see us, and we're just doing our best.
I remember looking up wrestling schools at the age of 10, and I emailed so many people. The responses were that I had to be 16 or 18 to train, and that was a bummer.
When I was in the indies, the guys would be like, 'Ugh, a women's match. I'm not gonna watch that.' And to come back here, at every single Live Event to have a guy come up to you and say, 'That was amazing,' I feel so accomplished.
For me, I got to start at FCW and see it turn into NXT, and I remember going to house shows, and there were legit ten fans in the crowd. Now, every weekend where we have a show, there are 300-plus people.
It feels like a whole other brand onto itself, and I know for the girls - and just speaking for myself - being at NXT has been such an amazing experienc, and I feel so accomplished here as wrestling as a woman and just showing fans that women can do it better than the men.
Eddie Guerrero is my number one. He is the reason I am in the WWE - I wanted to be the female version of him.
