Sasha Banks defended her Smackdown Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair on Night One of WrestleMania 37, in its main event. It was a historic match as the two competitors gave it their all including the kitchen sink in order to win the match. Ultimately, it was Bianca Belair who emerged victorious in the title match and became the new Smackdown Women’s Champion in the process. The two also had a genuine moment where they shed tears in the ring. Sasha Banks also leaked a photo after cancelling a match.
Sasha Banks was set to face off against Bianca Belair at WWE SummerSlam for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. However, she never showed up and instead, Becky Lynch came out and beat Bianca Belair for the title in under 26 seconds. She has yet to appear on WWE television for a month now.
Big E recently spoke on the Ringer Wrestling Podcast, where he stated that he is glad Black champions are becoming more commonplace in pro wrestling.
“I’m glad it’s becoming more commonplace. For me, I love having these conversations, I think they’re important, but I think of it like the black quarterback discussion in the NFL that I feel like you don’t hear much of anymore because there are so many. That’s what I hope. I hope it becomes so common and we get so used to it that, ‘oh, of course, it’s just a dope wrestler who is black who has the World Championship.’ I love having these conversations and it’s still worth having because I think representation does matter and knowing the thought of black kids who want to be pro wrestlers and don’t look at WWE programming and think, ‘Oh, there are no black people doing this at a high level so maybe I’ll do something else.’ Knowing like, ‘there are a lot of people who look like me who do this.’
I think that’s awesome. It’s really cool. The thing that I do love is when I look around, I don’t see black wrestlers who are put in positions merely because a quota needs to be filled. I look at the Sashas, Biancas, Bobby Lashleys, Kofis, Woods’, Keith Lees, and look around and say, ‘No, we’re all just really dope and bring a lot to the table.’ We’re all our own men, women, and we’re unique. Same thing as Street Profits when people wanted to compare them. No, they are not New Day. They are their own men and they are incredible at what they do. That’s what I love seeing. It’s a really good time, even outside the company, all the super talent black men and women who professional wrestling pays their bills.”
h/t to Fightful for the quotes.
