Sasha Banks vs Ronda Rousey was confirmed for the Royal Rumble PPV a few weeks ago. Sasha defeated Nia Jax to earn the match against Rousey for her RAW Women’s Championship.
Sasha was a recent guest on E & C’s Pod of Awesomeness. During her appearance on the podcast, Sasha opened up about facing Ronda.
Specifically, she revealed when she was told that she would be getting to face Ronda. Here is what Sasha said (h/t to Cageside Seats for the quotes below):
“It’s kind of crazy. It was really unexpected, too. When I found out I was gonna be facing her, it was just out of the blue. I found out the day before Raw and I was just like, ‘Wait , huh?’ Of course, that’s how WWE always works. You never know what they’re gonna be doing. They tell you one thing and the next thing you know something’s different, but it’s honestly really cool because last year having the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match, I got to open that match, and be part of that match for 54 minutes. Now going into this year’s Royal Rumble and actually being a part of the title picture, it’s kind of crazy how full circle life is.”
Sasha also says that she wishes there was more time for them to build the storyline:
“I do wish there was just more time to build, but I think that’s with a lot of people’s storylines. I just think we have way too many pay-per-views. Once Royal Rumble’s done, we have three weeks until Elimination Chamber. Once that ends, we have another three weeks until Fastlane and then it’s like four weeks ‘til WrestleMania – there’s never enough time where you can just sit and digest these stories. But for me I do think this is going to be a whole different matchup than what she’s ever had. But even, this is gonna be completely different than what I’ve had in a long, long time.
It’s hard because we’ve never trained together, we’ve never worked with each other, we’ve never touched each other, so I don’t know what her movements are going to be in the ring and that kind of makes me nervous, but just being the wrestler that I am, I have to prepare myself just watching her tapes and just getting ready the best way that I can. And that’s going to the PC [WWE Performance Center], or I’m gonna be going to New York this week to train with my friend Amazing Red, and just having all these options ready for me when I do get in that ring with her, and wrestle with her because she’s not a professional wrestler – she’s a fighter, so she’s going to be coming in completely different.
And I’m not Nia Jax where I can just pick her up and slam her around and it’s definitely gonna be a really different match-up for herself and myself too, but I’m ready for it. I’m excited that it’s at the Royal Rumble, and I’m ready for heads to turn.”
On a related note, you can check out our predictions for Ronda vs Sasha and every other match at the Rumble here.