WWE: Sasha Banks isn’t just fighting for her own career

Sasha Banks is one of several superstars upset with their situation in WWE. The battle that Banks is fighting is especially important in molding the public discourse and the promotion’s treatment of its talent.

On Apr. 11, Fightful.com’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that Sasha Banks may be interested in leaving the company. It was later reported that Sasha and Bayley learned that they’d lose the Women’s Tag Team Championships, which they’d tried to get instated for months before becoming the inaugural champions, on the day of WrestleMania 35. Not only that, but Sasha and Bayley found out that they’d be breaking up as a tag team, not even two months after winning the titles together.

For Sasha, this is nothing new. A four-time Women’s Champion who is regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the world today, Banks has made a name for herself as one of WWE’s most popular Superstars. She’s also been left off of Pay-Per-Views, given a character that doesn’t consistently showcase her engaging promo skills and has yet to successfully retain the title in any of those reigns.

Her issues mirror what other Superstars have gone through. Luke Harper is ready to leave after creative have left him out of their plans, yet WWE is reportedly tacking on extra months to his contract before he can leave. The same happened to Neville (now PAC).

Meanwhile, Dean Ambrose, now going by his old name Jon Moxley, has already left. Lio Rush is waging his own fight against the backstage mentality that forces wrestlers to carry water, sit in silence, and take what their given without challenging authority.

This is the current state of WWE and with All Elite Wrestling – which was co-founded by a man who left WWE’s toxic environment to become his own star – showing performers that there are other options, wrestlers are taking notice.

But so is WWE.

Whenever an athlete, such as Sasha Banks, stands up for themselves against a team or a company, there is a quick mobilization to silence their voices. It starts with people working within the team or company, and it permeates to the fanbase.

Booker T has accomplished a great deal in WWE and his opinions carry plenty of weight. So when he tells Sasha that it’s “never going to be about you” and basically tells her to deal with it, it’s an example of a WWE employee and legend stifling the efforts of an individual fighting a structure. [Transcript via Wrestling Inc.’s Ross Kelly]

"“Sasha Banks, who has all that talent and rises up to that top level and gets there and then realizes that it is not what she thought it was because the reason is that it is not all about you. It is never going to be about you.”"

It is, however, about her and simultaneously about more than her.

Nobody else will stand up for Banks except for herself, so she has to make this statement of self-agency in order to fight for better. This will, hopefully, raise the standard for others, since it often takes one brave person to shatter perception. “That was how it was done,” just isn’t good enough, and Banks clearly isn’t satisfied with that weak justification for WWE’s disrespectful booking. She wants more, others want more, and she is ready to take matters into her own hands.

Central to the counter-arguments is this idea that Sasha has already accomplished a lot, and therefore she should be happy with her standing. Because WWE Superstars – unlike, say, football players – are at the mercy of their booking. Pro wrestling is even less of a meritocracy than sports without bookers. That makes it convenient for critics to act as if a wrestler didn’t earn their standing on the card or their championship reigns.

Instead, focus gets put on the benevolent promotion handing them opportunities. If a successful Superstar believes they are worth more or want to challenge themselves, detractors can say, “No, you have enough. Sit down and be quiet.”

That’s essentially what’s happened here. By challenging the idea that WWE Superstars should graciously accept what they are given instead of fighting for themselves, Banks is opening the doors for others, specifically other women. In pro wrestling, as in many other professions, it is more challenging for women to find steady pay, so Banks is taking a risk.

If she is successful, regardless of whether she decides to stay in WWE or leaves in groundbreaking fashion, she can inspire others to do the same. They don’t have to “play nice” with the powerful establishment, no matter how many legends or employees defend WWE publicly.

Plus, because stereotyping affects people who fit into multiple identities that are discriminated against, Banks, as a Black woman, will inevitably receive the most backlash for her courage. This is something to remember when reading the comments about her in comparison to the comments other wrestlers receive, and it makes her act of self-ownership and her desire for change even more meaningful in the overall pro wrestling sphere.

Additionally, Banks is helping to sway the public discourse by the fans, who do have an influence on decision-makers. She’s shifting the “Overton window” so that it becomes more acceptable, in the eyes of fans, for a superstar to “hold out” as an athlete in another industry would.

Though it may not seem like it, fans do have a critical voice. Their money pays for merchandise and tickets and their eyes move the meter for television deals or encourage investors. If enough fans stand by Superstars like Banks or Rush in their battle – or if they support them once they leave, as Moxley and PAC have done – that can make a huge difference.

As more and more superstars stand up for themselves and encourage others to do so, this process will become normalized. More fans will come to expect wrestlers to take a stand for themselves and exit the company. This could pressure on WWE to 1) Make sure they have a plan in place for every superstar instead of hoarding talent without seeing them as human beings 2) Respect the fact that fans are willing to support wrestlers elsewhere, and 3) Take better care of their wrestlers financially.

As the dominoes fall and as wrestlers like Banks decide, “No, we’re not just going to sit here and take it,” the words of legends like Booker T will ring hollow. Fans will expect WWE to do better, and they will encourage superstars who continue to challenge the status quo; superstars shouldn’t have to feel that they are fighting on their own once others mobilize to counteract the machine.