Sasha Banks Says Xavier Woods And Tyler Breeze Helped Her From Being Released In 2013

In this iteration of NXT as we now know it, Sasha Banks was one of the first success stories.

When NXT became what amounted to their developmental brand on the WWE Network with their show filmed at Full Sail University, Banks was part of a crop of stars like Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and many others who now rest at the top of the WWE. However, for a while in the company, Banks felt like she wasn’t going to be lasting long with them.

Banks talked about her time at the Performance Center in 2013 with Steve Austin on her episode of the Broken Skull Sessions, and revealed how she felt she was going to be released. She revealed that thanks to the help of Tyler Breeze and Xavier Woods, she was able to find her voice which was eventually supported by the late Dusty Rhodes.

“In 2013 I felt an energy that I was going to get released. I had no character. I had nothing but good wrestling skills. Every single week I would go to promo class and just be happy and grateful to be there. Just a generic babyface…I was like, ‘no, this is not it.’ When you feel energy, and my energy I can feel a lot of things, I was like, ‘I’m on the chopping block and I cannot get fired.’ I felt it. I could not get fired from this place that I grew up watching my whole life. My only dream. So Tyler Breeze, he helped me so much. He’s like, ‘you need to write down a list of all different characters and we can film it with Woods.’ Woods would help everybody who was ever on the chopping block or who wanted to do some things. or wanted to send some things into WWE and make things more, just for them to see their character. Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze went out of their way to help so many people. I couldn’t even believe it.”

“I thought, you know, that’s a good character, let me take that and turn it up. I’m the baddest, I’m the greatest, I’m the boss of NXT. I tried it at promo class, everyone sh*tted on it except for Dusty Rhodes, which is going to make me cry. Nobody got it, nobody understood it except for Dusty. He said, ‘that’s what I wanted, keep on coming back every single week and doing that. That’s the sassy Sasha that I’ve been dreaming and seeing and wanting you to be.’ So crazy.”

Dusty Rhodes holds a special place in the hearts of several of that era’s NXT stars for his support in finding their characters, their voices, and something inside of them they hadn’t quite found on the independent scene. Now Banks is The Boss and showing people the character Dusty Rhodes knew was inside of her.

h/t to Fightful for the quote

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