After winning the 2021 Royal Rumble Bianca Belair named Sasha Banks as her opponent for WrestleMania, setting up a match for the ages. While both women gave a top draw, emotion-laden performance, the match also made history.
Not only was the clash the first time a women’s singles match had headlined the event, it was also the first time that two black women had met in single’s action on the ‘Grandest Stage of Them All.’
Appearing on the Just Women’s Sports podcast, Banks said that it was always her dream to headline WrestleMania.
“The whole month was such an anxiety thing. We had no idea who was going to main event WrestleMania. The year before, I was telling my best friend Bayley, ‘I’m going to main event WrestleMania 37.’ It was always my dream to main event WrestleMania and I was just putting it out there to the universe and striving and working towards it. The month before WrestleMania, I really thought, I heard rumblings it was going to be the guys and I was like, ‘What can I do?’ All I can do is be me and keep on doing my work and show Vince that ‘if I’m not the main event, I don’t know what main event you’re going to have.'”
Expanding further, Banks recalled how she found out that she was going to be in the main event of WrestleMania 37 night one.
“Legit, the Wednesday before WrestleMania, I found out we were the main event. I was so nervous and was asking, ‘Did you check the card, did anyone tell you?’ ‘You’re not the main event.’ ‘No one told me that.’ I was going to go to rehearsals and if I found out, all I could do is maybe ask Vince. I went to rehearsals and TJ Wilson told me that I was the main event and I instantly started crying. It was so overwhelming and it was crazy. It’s the biggest thing you can do in wrestling and my heroes haven’t gotten to do what I’ve done. Not only that, just being a woman and an African-American woman, we’re checking off so many things. The biggest thing I got to check off was fully accomplishing everything I had written down as a kid. I’m on vacation right now, still soaking that in,”
While Sasha Banks hasn’t been seen on television since being defeated by Belair, the new champion has become embroiled in a feud with Bayley. Following a match at WrestleMania Backlash, the two will go one on one once more at Hell In A Cell.
In a recent interview reflecting on the night that she won the title, Bianca Belair said that the match was about so much more than titles. Adding that she’s expecting a rematch with Banks somewhere down the road.
H/t to Fightful for the transcription.