Mercedes “Sasha Banks” Varnado

A greater woman wrestler there most likely never will be. Breaking boundaries, pushing the limit and making history with every move she makes. Mercedes “Sasha Banks” Varnado is one of a kind in this world, let alone in the wrestling industry. Going where women have never gone before, and paving the way for a new generation of tough ladies with no apology. The professional wrestler was born in California but grew up in Boston, which is where she started wrestling.

Sasha began training at Chaotic Wrestling in 2008, and made her in-ring debut in 2010 under the name Mercedes KV, in an intergender tag team match, alongside Nikki Roxx. A year later, at the tender age of 20, the ferocious wrestler took the Chaotic Wrestler’s Championship for the first time. Unsurprisingly Sasha was signed to WWE in 2012, and promoted to their main roster in 2015. At that year’s NXT: TakeOver against Bayley, Sasha was part of WWE history as she competed in the first women’s match ever to headline a NXT TakeOver, the first iron woman match in WWE history and the longest women’s match in WWE history at 30 minutes. The mighty bout won Match of the Year from Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Woman of the Year for Sasha’s impressive performance.

In 2016 the champion went head to head with Charlotte Flair at the Feud of the Year, becoming the first women to headline a WWE pay-per-view event, to compete in a Hell in a Cell match, and to win the PWI award. Sasha won the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship alongside Bayley in 2019, before winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship in 2020 and being named Wrestler of the Year by Sports Illustrated. Alongside Bianca Belair, the pair became the first black women to jointly headline a WrestleMain, at this year’s WrestleMania 37.