Sasha Banks Talks Royal Rumble Match With Ronda Rousey And More

Sasha Banks spoke with Edge and Christian on the E&C Pod of Awesomeness about how she reacted to hearing news that she's going one-on-one with Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey for the title at the Royal Rumble next weekend in Phoenix, AZ. Check out her take on that and more below.

Reaction To Royal Rumble Match With Rousey:

“It’s kind of crazy. It was really unexpected too. When I found out I was gonna be facing her. It was just out of the blue. I found out the day before RAW and I was just like, ‘Huh?’ Of course, that’s how WWE always works. You never know what they’re gonna be doing. They tell you one thing and the next thing you know something’s different, but it’s honestly really cool because last year having the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match, I got to open that match, and be part of that match for 54 minutes. Now going into this year’s Royal Rumble and actually being a part of the title picture, it’s kind of crazy how full circle life is.”

Being Removed From Royal Rumble Itself:

“I won’t be in the Royal Rumble because I’ll be winning the title, so I don’t need to be in it.”

WWE Pay-Per- View Schedule:

“I do wish there was more time to build, but I think that’s with a lot of people’s storylines, but we just have way too many pay-per-views. Once Royal Rumble is done, we have three weeks until Elimination Chamber. Once that ends, we have another three weeks until Fastlane and then it’s like four weeks until WrestleMania. There’s never enough time where you can just sit and digest these stories, but for me I do think this is going to be a whole different matchup than what she’s ever had. This is going to be completely different than what I’ve had, in a long long time. It’s hard because we’ve never trained together, we’ve never worked with each other, we’ve never touched each other, so I don’t know what her movements are going to be in the ring and that kind of makes me nervous, but just being the wrestler that I am, I have to prepare myself just watching her tapes and just getting ready the best way I can. That’s going to the Performance Center, or I’m going to be going to New York this week to train with my friend Amazing Red, and just having all these options ready for me when I do get in that ring with her, and wrestle with her because she’s not a professional wrestler – she’s a fighter, so she’s going to be coming in completely different. I’m not Nia Jax where I can just pick her up and slam her around and it’s definitely gonna be a different matchup for herself and myself too, but I’m ready for it. I’m excited that it’s at the Royal Rumble and I’m ready for heads to turn.”

Last Week's Promo:

“It felt good. For me, promos haven’t really been my best strong suit, but I feel like, as a I keep on getting older (which kind of sucks) the more mature I get and the more I actually think about what I say. I also feel like now as a performer, I’m not really scared to speak up when I’m giving a promo and that’s the beautiful thing about WWE. With them growing as well, if you get handed something and you have questions about it, I’m not scared about going to Vince [Mcmahon] at events and asking him to change it, to make it into my own words. For the past two weeks, I took liberty with that. The week before, I wasn’t supposed to say the ‘B Word,’ but it just kind of came out and I feel like that added to the promo, as well. So, you just kind of always have to apologize later, but if you’re doing the best you can to make the story better, I think it’s OK to do those things for the better of the story.”