Sasha Banks On Requesting Her WWE Release In 2019: "I Wasn't Feeling Good"
"I don't feel anything and this is Wrestle-freaking-Mania," said Sasha Banks of her 2019 malaise.
WWE's Sasha Banks was Ariel Helwani's latest guest on his Meets series for BT Sport, conducting an interview that saw her touch on all kinds of topics relating to her wrestling career, including her post-WrestleMania 35 malaise.
The former Raw and SmackDown Women's Champion spoke of the break she took from WWE shortly after the event, where she and Bayley dropped the Women's Tag Team Titles to The IIconics in a multi-team bout.
Banks described her numbness at the event. She knew she needed a break when something she had been dreaming of all her life didn't conjure a single feeling, leading to her decision (h/t Wrestling Inc.):-
“It was at that WrestleMania when I was just like, ‘Woah, I’m not nervous. I don’t feel anything and this is Wrestle – freaking – Mania. I couldn’t believe it! The biggest fangirl that wanted this her entire life didn’t feel anything at the biggest show ever? I mean, this is every wrestler’s dream to be here, and at the very moment, I knew that I needed to take a break. And I was like, alright, I’ve got to go find myself and I did, and it’s the best decision I ever made and I’m so thankful that I did.”
Sasha continued, stating that wrestling was the only thing she had ever wanted to do, so if it was making her feel this way, she had some soul-searching to do:-
“Wrestling has been the only thing I have ever known; I never had a plan B, C, or D, it’s just always been wrestling, wrestling, wrestling. So when I realized I didn’t know anything else but it, it kind of scared me for a second. And I just had to kind of figure out deep within, like, what do you like on a Sunday if you didn’t have wrestling? What if you didn’t have TV? What if there’s no cable? Just, what if? Can’t you just figure it out one time, for one day. And I’m like, ‘Woah, okay, actually I can because I can take a break to figure out who I am.'”
It was widely reported that Banks went as far as requesting her WWE release during this period. Banks, who has spoken on this matter before, thanked Vince McMahon for turning this request down, instead offering her a hiatus, which turned out to be the right move:-
“I felt like I wasn’t giving my highest good. So if I’m not giving my highest good, if I’m not being the best, if I’m not being used as the best, then I’ve got to go find that. I’m always that performer wanting to be #1 and I felt in my heart that I just wasn’t feeling good. I wasn’t feeling good, so I felt like I did all that I could and I needed that break, I needed that release. And then Vince told me no and that was a great decision on both ends because he knew what he saw. He’s so smart, he’s so kind, he’s so gentle. He actually knew what I needed which was time. At the end of the point, all of use just need a little bit of time."
Taking time off from WWE in April 2019, Bank returned to television that August.