William Regal saw star potential in Sasha Banks from the moment he laid eyes on her.
Sasha Banks is one of the top stars in WWE, headlining the blue brand as SmackDown Women's Champion and showing crossover appeal as one of the stars of Star Wars: The Mandalorian.
NXT General Manager William Regal was so sure of Banks' potential in wrestling, he was willing to risk his job over her being hired.
“She was the first person I went to bat for to hire, because the people who were doing the job that I do now wouldn’t even give her the time of day," Regal told Matty Paddock of Daily Star. “I’ve known her since she was 19 and she used to be an extra at Boston. The first day, I was in catering and she came and sat and said ‘do you mind if I ask you some questions about wrestling?’ I wasn’t doing this job then but in the afternoon at the shows, I’d always be training outside the ring and she’d be one of the ones who would always come and talk. When it came to me getting this job… I went to them [about Sasha] and said ‘look, if this doesn’t work out, you can fire me.’ To see the way she has come through this, and to see what she’s done [is] incredible.”
Regal continued by telling a story of how he helped pull Banks out of a slump.
“I’m sure she doesn’t mind me telling you this,” he went on to say. “But there are times when this job gets to be a bit of a grind – any job does. I don’t see her as much and we certainly don’t call and text one another, but I saw her a while ago, several years ago and I’d heard she wasn’t so happy. I said to her ‘how are you doing?’ She said ‘Alright’. I said ‘how many times have you been world champion? She said ‘Five…’ I said, 'And was the cheque in the bank on Monday?' and she just said 'That’s all I needed, thank you very much!' Just to see that she’s come through all this and become the star she has been very fulfilling.”
Regal currently serves as the General Manager of NXT.
Banks is set to defend her SmackDown Women's Championship against Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 37. You can view the current lineup for WrestleMania 37 by clicking here.
