00:00When the only thing you know is wrestling, you have to kind of take a step back and realize what's next in your future.
00:06And I wanted to figure that out because I started not like myself.
00:10I looked in the mirror and I was just like, wow, you really lost light in your eyes and you need to smile again.
00:16And I'm smiling again.
00:18I am WWE superstar Sasha Banks and I feel seen.
00:22Encounter by Sasha. Charlotte's got nowhere to go.
00:25Charlotte taps out. Sasha's the champion. Sasha's the champion.
00:31Here is your winner and the new Raw Women's Champion.
00:36I've had such an incredible career, something that I've legit only drunked up since I was a kid, but never really saw it coming true.
00:46So it's crazy. I've been a Raw Women's Champion, the first ever women's tag team champion, first ever woman to main event pay-per-view, first ever woman to be in a Hell in a Cell match.
00:56So many first time ever's that it's really hard to just name it list by list, but it's just been something so incredible since joining WWE seven years ago.
01:06And just five years ago we started this amazing women's evolution and it's just been blowing everybody's mind away.
01:14So I am so blessed to see how far women's wrestling has come with WWE just this past year.
01:20The women have got to main events, WrestleMania, which gives me chills still because it's just like you would never ever think that would actually happen.
01:30This past year I took a break from WWE actually because I had to step back and realize who I was.
01:52You know, for so long I was just consumed with Sasha Banks and living this crazy fast lifestyle of, you know, never having days off and just consuming myself with wrestling.
02:03That's all I've known since I was 10.
02:05So I really had to go back and realize who's Mercedes behind all of this, behind the blue hair, behind the makeup, behind the legit boss, the standard, all the nicknames.
02:15And when I took that break, I really figured out who Mercedes was again.
02:20And I realized that I do love wrestling and that's okay, but it's a beautiful thing to grow because I was a child when I got signed, pretty much.
02:29I got signed when I was 20 and, you know, when the only thing you know is wrestling, you have to kind of take a step back and realize what's next in your future.
02:38And I wanted to figure that out because I started not like myself.
02:42I looked in the mirror and I was just like, wow, you really lost light in your eyes and you need to smile again.
02:47And I'm smiling again and I feel like I'm still going to go through my ups and downs, but I have to learn to love myself first.
02:56And I think that's what I really figured out this past year is just to love who you are, to be okay if people don't like you and talk about you because you got to live your life for you.
03:08You know, be happy.
03:09I feel like being seen as being comfortable, really realizing who you are and being okay with that for me, my purpose that I would love to do.
03:21I have a brother with disabilities and I want to let people know and other, you know, siblings that had to deal with that, what I dealt with, that it's okay and they can live their dreams too.
03:33And I feel like that's what I would love my purpose to be is just, you know, helping people with that.
03:38This past year at Survivor Series, I met this girl.
03:43She was 12 years old and she went to an autograph setting by herself just to meet me.
03:49And the way she looked at me was so special.
03:54And I was like, what's your name?
03:57Like, you know, what's your story?
03:58And she's like, I have a sister with autism too.
04:03And because of you, I feel like I can live.
04:06So I feel like that's my purpose.
04:08I just hate crying.
04:11And so that's what I want my purpose to be, just to help people or little girls like me that felt like they never had a purpose in life.
04:21Because when I was younger, I was really confused with what I wanted to do and how I was going to get there because of my brother with disabilities.
04:28This picture is really cool because this is from just a girl doing makeup on her arm.
04:40And I love makeup.
04:42But I don't know how she did those glasses.
04:44Those are so cool.
04:45The great thing with our fans is that they are so talented.
04:49I love going to my Instagram and seeing everything they make from Photoshop to, you know, illustrations to drawings.
04:56And I have the best fans in the world.
04:59So I love seeing this stuff.
05:00It makes me really happy.
05:02Five years ago, it was so different.
05:05And I go to Raw and SmackDown every single week and I still think and I look around backstage, what needs to be changed and what can I do as a superstar now to make sure the future, you know, it's easier for them when they step in here.
05:20So for me, it's just, it's incredible to see.
05:22And I just can't believe that I'm a part of it right now.
05:24I'm a part of history.
05:26People are going to look back at my matches and go, because of Sasha Banks, I want to be a WWE wrestler.
05:32Because of her, I can accomplish this, because of this, because of that.
05:35And it feels so empowering to know that I helped in a way, you know.
