Bayley Compares Sasha Banks to Michael Jordan

Apr 27, 2020 - by James Walsh

In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Bayley discussed the ongoing Michael Jordan documentary, The Last Dance, and how it has made her realize that everything has similarities to wrestling. She also compared Sasha Banks to Michael Jordan and herself to Kobe Bryant. Highlights are below. 

On how The Last Dance is making her see the similarities between the NBA world and wrestling: “I did, I was really excited for that. I went over to one of our referees’ places and we were so excited to watch. I played sports growing up, and sports documentaries are my favorite thing to watch and I always find something inspiring. 

I didn’t know what to expect, but everything I watch I compare to wrestling. I was like, ‘Man, this world is just like the wrestling world!’ Everyone wants to be like Jordan, and there’s a little poison in everybody and everybody’s out for themselves, things like that, but Jordan’s the one keeping his head straight. He just wanted to be the best. 

I thought it was awesome. Definitely didn’t know a lot of that story or the politics behind the scene, I was just watching basketball. I loved it, and it’s really cool that they’re doing two episodes a week.” 

On who is Michael Jordan between her and Sasha Banks: “[Laughs] Honestly, I don’t know, it’s hard to say that. I always say that Sasha is the greatest of all-time, and I truly believe that, even though I am the champion right now and a Grand Slam women’s champion and I’ve won Money in the Bank. I’ve done a lot of things, but I wouldn’t be able to do all of that without her and learning from her mindset. So if she wants to be Jordan, that’s OK. I was always a Kobe fan, so maybe I can be Kobe and she can be Jordan.” 

On if she and Sasha and can build to a match at WrestleMania 37 for a full year like The Rock and John Cena did: “I think we can. We’ve bounced ideas off each other for as long as we’ve known each other, and we learn from each other so much. With all of our ideas and how much we are trusted by the people backstage, I think it’s possible. It would be challenging, but I think that would be so cool. 

Someday, I hope we do get to work together again. She’s my favorite person to be in the ring with, obviously, so I would be down to try.”

Leave a Reply