Original subtitles

That moment that bell rang, that crowd already told me how awesome my match was

going to be.

Facing off at Brooklyn, that's a real moment. I wanted to give her the match

her life.

I just

trusted Bayley, and I'm like, this is the moment.

Do or die, let's do it.

That felt like one of those moments you watch as kids with all your favorite

wrestlers where it's like, ah!

That was something very, very special.

You know, when I first started watching WWE, the first thing I taught myself was

how to say suck it.

How to roll my eyes behind my head, which I still can't do.

And now I'm here.

Yeah, I'm here.

I love, I love wrestling. I love WWE.

I'm just, you're a normal person that somehow stumbled upon the coolest dream

life ever.

From San Jose, California.

That's not hard.

Not anymore, at least.

Mercedes Bernado.

It's this 10 -year -old. I turn on the TV, and I start watching wrestling, and

just instantly fell in love.

This instant energy just came into my heart of like, whoa.

I think I just found out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Wanting to be a wrestler and wanting to be in the WWE is what I based my whole

life around.

Especially in school, I would write all of my essays about wrestling, all of my

essays about WWE, or when I had to write about an inspiration, or even when I

was in geography class and I had to talk about these places I wanted to visit, I

would base it off where I would see some of the towns that the shows were in or

where some of my favorite wrestlers were from. For me, it was kind of a way of

life. All little kids say they want to be doctors, they want to be

To me, I was so nervous telling people that I wanted to be a wrestler because I

never, ever heard a woman say that. You know, I was like, I like wrestling too.

And, you know, I was just so shy about it. My first memory was literally this

house that I grew up in and my dad and my brother would watch wrestling on the

TV. One of the nights I saw Macho Man and I was like, what's that?

For me, Macho Man was really some kind of energy that I felt immediately

the TV. His tassels, it was the way he carried himself with such confidence. I

think as a kid, I lacked a lot, and I still do at times. I've never seen

somebody just be so full of life.

I was like, I want to be like that.

You like that, don't you?

Because you can't handle the success of the Macho Man Randy Savage.

The person that just really made me fall in love with it.

was Eddie Guerrero. I had an instant connection when I saw him drive out in

car, walk out on that stage, and I was like, what is this? Just like a kid

looking at the TV, just like, wow, I want to do this. I want to be him.

Eddie Guerrero was everything.

It's so special.

A special connection that I don't know how to explain.

Because of him, it changed my life forever.

And I'm so thankful.

As a kid, having that kind of hero really, I think, helped her through a

things in life and got her here and still does help her.

It's like he lives with her.

I always go back to Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio matches because they're

classics. Because you felt their instant connection of...

trust and that bond and that love.

It really reminds me a lot of myself and Bailey of like this friendship of

having this awesome connection with wrestling.

Rey Mysterio's like, I love you, but I'm the best. And Eddie's always like, I

love you too, but I'm the best.

And they changed the game of wrestling forever.

Growing up as a child, people ask, what do you want to be when you grow up?

And you hear kids say, I want to be a doctor.

I want to be a firefighter.

I want to be a dentist.

But my answer was, I want to be a WWE diva.

Since I was a little girl, that has been my only dream.

I have worked so hard to make it here, and now look at where I'm at.

I know I have a long way to go, but in a key, watch out.

Because Mercedes is going to make a name for herself.

I was so excited when I got signed. I couldn't believe it. It was like, man.

I couldn't believe it.

I still can't believe it.

I'm so thankful.

I moved down to Florida with my fiance, Surat, to Tampa.

I was so shy.

I was like a nobody.

The first time we've seen Sasha Banks, but in this couple of minutes, we can

that she's still competitive. She knows what she's doing. Very impressive.

I realized Mercedes was a star probably the first time I saw her.

Throughout training, it was such a unique time in WWE, and we kind of, as a

women's group, broke off and did our own thing.

Mercedes definitely held her own in the group. She was a standout athletically.

You could tell she was still a very shy girl and not fully out of her shell.

Focused, she was, on being the best and being... Like, I remember Sami

Zayn introduced me to her.

She was here for a reason. It was to be the best. You know, that's the attitude

she always took at the Performance Center, and she was very driven.

We have a woman coach named Sarah Amato, a .k .a. Sarah Del Rey.

She was considered the best women's wrestler in the independent.

She only wanted to teach us what she knew.

And it was so crazy. There would be times when we would be training, we'd be

locking up, we'd be doing strikes.

And the head trainer would come out and be like, stop.

What are you guys doing?

This is not what divas do.

Train like a diva.

What's training like a diva?

Next thing you know, we can't do strikes.

We only can do hair pulling.

No one really wants to do that.

And that's how I feel like Sarah Amato really came into play because no matter

what, if they weren't looking, it's like, yeah, it sucks. We're going to do

these, train like a diva, pull the hair.

But I still want to teach you guys how to be the best at everything else and be

aggressive and make everything snappy and this and that.

Next thing you know, here's Bailey. She comes in.

I remember being in the ring.

I want to say it was in December, and Sarah Motto said, we got a couple new

girls coming in January.

And she's like, oh, yeah, one girl from California. I was like, from Northern

California? She's like, yeah. I said, who is it, Davina Rose?

And she goes, yeah.

One of the most popular BTW stars currently.

Here she comes, folks.

Very young, very talented, very gifted, and very tough. Young Davina Rose.

I guess she said she knew me from The Independence before she used to stalk

Another reverse neckbreaker.

I was just always a huge fan of her and her work ethic and just how she moved

and what she did, and it was way before that Bailey character was ever created.

So then I was thrilled when she was maybe the second generation that came

FCW after I started there and after Mercedes started.

I realized Bailey could bring it into the ring. That first week that she got

there, I was asked by the coaches to have a practice match just so we can see

how she looked.

So we went into the main ring.

I think we just talked about the finish.

I didn't know anything. So we just called this match on the fly out there.

just met each other in front of all these important people.

Maybe it was one of my favorite matches up until that point, and I was like, how

the heck did I do that with this chick that I just met?

I think the thing that drew me to her right away was that she told me she was

fan since she was 10, and we just realized that we were both wrestling

that really glued us together, I think.

We called ourselves the Average Janes because we didn't have a character, we

didn't have a look to us, and we just freaking loved wrestling, and that's all

we cared about. So we were like, oh, we're just Average Janes going out

have a good time, have a good match.

I doubted my dream every single day. I thought I didn't know how long I was

going to last, but I was trying my best. But I thought at best I could probably

make it two months.

That was what I gave myself.

And the first month I was miserable.

I was so sad.

In the Japanese culture, they get, like, so much respect and the fans are so

different. So, like, to be in the ring with them and, like, all the cameras and

people taking pictures, I was just like, like, I kind of, like, stepped back

and, like, had a moment with myself.

I can't.

I think, like, everything I've been going through just builds up.

I doubted it a lot.

It was fear. I was so scared of getting released, especially at SCW. I was like,

man, I'm not being seen, and I don't feel like I'm really being noticed.

It took me a long time to get here, and I know that patience is going to be key.

And I was like, man, this sucks. I don't even think they're going to appreciate

me here. I'm not going to learn. I'm not going to get a chance. They already

have the girls that they care about and all this stuff, so I doubted myself a

lot.

I think Dusty really helped me get out of that funk.

Dusty Rhodes had this amazing gift of bringing the best out of people,

in everyone.

Just took him under his wing and showed him love and support, time and

attention, and created with them.

A lot of times when I was practicing doing the boss character, a lot of

would be like, what are you doing? What is that? That doesn't make any sense.

You're the boss of what?

Dream was like, nah, baby.

That's who you is, and we're going to keep on working on it.

I'm like, oh, thank you, Dream.

Oh, finally a character.

Who's the baddest?

Sasha!

You know, her character was this freaking rich, knobby,

better than everyone, acting like she's, you know, the shiz.

I am Sasha Banks, the boss of NXT.

I think I just had those, like, doughy eyes where I was just like, whoa, I love

this.

look at this look at the torque on the body the early stages of bailey and what

she was as a character were definitely that just like happy to be there guys

like oh it's dusty roads oh it's triple h's hammer like a genuine girl who just

grew up loving wrestling as a nine -year -old girl for bailey loving this

wanting to be part of wwe wanted to be here on nxt and compete and pursue her

dream as far as why people connect with bailey or the fans connected with bailey

uh so easily i can't really put my finger on it but i know this every

time we had an nxt show bailey's entrance and you know subsequent match

entrance was always a highlight for me because of how happy people would get

when her music hit and it was infectious like you could see it was like a wave

in the crowd

Bailey and Sasha wanted to be the first ones there, the last ones to leave, do

extra time, watch extra videos, just really go the extra mile.

Honestly, I think it took a while for me to realize that she was going to be

like a real friend outside of wrestling.

I think there was one time where she asked me for a ride because she wouldn't

drive on the highway. Even though she had her license, she was scared to drive

on the highway.

So she hopped in my car, gave her a ride. And as soon as we got there, she

off and hung out with her other friends that we worked with. And I was like, all

right, you're welcome, whatever.

This chick is just using me.

As time went on, I think what bonded us was... I saw how hard she worked. I saw

how hard she was working on her character. Like, we were kind of the

definitely made me push myself and made me want to get better in more ways than

I ever thought would happen.

I don't know how to explain it.

It's so insane. Every time I'm in a ring with her, my heart's like, this is

where it's supposed to be.

You're supposed to be working with her. You're supposed to be wrestling with

her. You're supposed to be rivals.

You're supposed to be making history. You're supposed to be changing the game

with this person right here.

It's just life.

It's the universe putting us together.

to find out that we were going to do our first show at the Barclays Center in an

arena that held more than 300 people.

I was like, oh my God.

Leading up to it, I don't know if I was trying to block it out. I know it was

the first takeover outside of Full Sail, but I don't know if I was like, looking

at it like that yet.

I don't know. I guess I just didn't see it in a big light until we got there and

I was like, oh, dude, this is a big deal.

Every single takeover to me felt like what I envisioned a WrestleMania would

feel like.

It gave me the biggest goosebumps and nerves, but I always wanted to bring it

because I felt like this was my moment and this was my WrestleMania.

Oh yeah, actually right now we're going to do the rehearsal.

I remember seeing Mercedes run from somewhere. She probably had a bunch of

appearances.

What do I remember about the rehearsal that there was barely one because I had

to be on the NXT panel.

And I was like, wait, I have to do what?

But I haven't even talked to Pam yet.

Did the NXT panel. We only have like maybe an hour till doors. And then

started putting stuff together because we didn't really have.

many things planned yet, and I was kind of nervous about that.

But we didn't want to show anybody because back then, if you tried

you did anything big, especially as a woman, the guys would be like, oh,

doing a dive.

They're doing a dive, but tell them not to do that.

Okay. Hey, girls, you guys can't do the dive.

Oh, okay. It was always like that, so we never wanted to show.

or practice anything that we were doing, because they would always be like, you

girls can't do that.

I was like, no.

I don't want anybody to tell me what I can't do, and especially in this match.

And that's all the rehearsal time that we had.

This is so cool.

on the WWE Network, and we are all watching for one reason, for NXT.

So it is my honor to introduce to you tonight's first

main event for the NXT Women's Championship.

I like to explain a lot how, like, our NXT crowd has been like a family.

Literally, I've watched, you know, Mercedes and I grow up as characters, as

people. And I think the fans that night, they were so happy for us. And I could

genuinely feel that. Like, if you looked out in the crowd, there is so many

Sasha Banks signs.

There's many more Bayley signs.

But I just heard that first, like, it was like a roar.

And I felt it. And I was like...

Holy... So

there's been a few

times where I've felt like, damn, I'm cool in my entrances.

And then I get up on the apron to do my hand thing out to the crowd, and then I

see my family in the front row, and I was like...

don't cry, hold it in, hold it in, because when I look at them, that's what

messes me up, especially my mom.

And I think for any kid growing up with a crazy dream like that, and especially

as wrestling was when we were growing up, my mom would watch it and be like,

want to do that in the bra and panties matches? Or you want to fight on a bed

with pillows or in a freaking pool of mud? She thought that's what I wanted to

do. They're now watching us in front of thousands and thousands of people.

It was special, so I had to hold it together.

I was screaming in the car. Yes, I was. I was screaming in the car because I

remember being next.

And every time I go out before my match, I always tell myself, I am not afraid.

I was born to do this.

And I felt like I screamed that in the car. It was like Mercedes saying, all

right, let's go, let's do this. This is everything you've ever wanted.

This is your moment.

I'm getting nerves out. It's time to put it on, and it's time to perform.

That door opened, and boom.

I was the legit boss.

And it was me, this little girl that was so shy and so nervous and only dreamt

about this moment. And now here I am at 23.

That moment that bell rang, that crowd already told me how awesome my match was

going to be.

Talk about a big fight feel right now.

I mean, you could tell a lot when you look into someone's eyes, right? That's

why, you know, working with her is so powerful because she believes in herself

so much.

In moments like that, like facing off at Brooklyn, that's a real moment.

She's really trying to prove to me that she's better than I'll ever be and I'll

never quite get there.

That's something in you and it should be in you as a competitor and as a person

and someone who wants to make it in the WWE.

When it comes to villains and heroes, it's all the same person.

For me, I felt like as the boss character, when I first got to FPW,

Bayley is like who I was, who I wanted to be.

but it didn't connect the same way because I didn't have that same energy.

So my character is loud, proud, better than everybody else, and I'm going to

that be known. And if I have to kick you in your face and if I have to cheat to

win, that's the way I'm going to have to go.

Sasha Banks doesn't respect Bayley. You are not a threat.

When I did those headbutts into the turnbuckle, obviously I would copy Hulk

Hogan doing stuff like that.

And so, you know, I kind of would just do it as a funny thing and just a fun

little thing to throw into the match and get the crowd involved.

But when I did it in Brooklyn, like, real stuff comes out.

You're not good enough. You don't look like this.

Why are you here? You don't belong here. So it's just like over and over people

are telling me you're not good enough.

There's only so many times you can take being mislabeled or misjudged and not

take it seriously.

Believe me, Bailey's had enough.

Yeah, it was the first time I tried it. I had Mercedes in a tree of walls.

I was trying to drop an elbow, which I've tried to do since, and none of them

look as good as that one. I should have just stopped doing it.

But that was my first time doing it.

I remember when I did it and I saw the way she landed, I was freaking out. I

like, great. I just tried something new and I freaking hurt her. This is going

to suck. But no, because she's the best, she was okay. And she just was trying

to make me look good.

Going right after the knee.

Bailey tumbling hard to the outside.

Psychology is all off a reaction and how people react.

You have to change at that very moment.

to keep them on this ride so they don't go anywhere, so they're always invested,

so they're always watching.

So it's not just up to the heel, I feel. It's up to the baby face as well.

If you want to get sympathy from the crowd, especially as a baby face, if you

want them to care about you, you've got to be vulnerable, you've got to let them

in, you've got to show that you're in pain. And I love it.

I love getting beat up. I still do.

I think she's the best heel.

because I think that's when she can show her confidence.

I think it's when she can show her little tributes to Eddie.

When she's working heel, I'll watch her and be like, if she did that to me, we'd

really have a fight on our hands, you know? So she's very good at these, like,

little subtle things that would just piss you off. The ref getting her back,

she, like, donkey kicks me. Like, she wasn't even looking. She just... That

kicked me, and it was just so mean, just such a crappy thing to do.

So that reverse kick, some things you just feel.

I just trusted Bailey, and I just did it. I don't know, I was just a mean

Take that, bitch.

It's so important to listen to the crowd. She had me in the corner, kind of

yelling in my face, telling me I'm not good enough.

You think you're better than me? It's all these people love you.

You're a willful.

You're pathetic.

You'll never make it, blah, blah, blah. And then I kick her in the head.

The crowd really, like, drives you in moments like that, and they were there

us. Man, they were so good for everything. The crowd really helps me

else I should do. I'm like, let me punish her some more if they like that.

I was coming back from having a broken hand, and the cast had literally just

came off, I think like a week before this. And I always give Mercedes crap

this, and I don't know if she believes me or not.

She's working my hand in the match.

And she kicks the stairs.

I swear she broke my hand again when she did that.

I was, like, screaming to the floor. Like, it was real pain. It was so bad.

Like, the whole night afterwards, I had to ice it in my bed and make sure. I was

like, man, maybe I should get another x -ray. But it was okay.

Her idea was to

do the freaking plancha out of the ring over the referee while he's checking on

me. Referee is going to make sure that Bailey is still able to continue.

The official keeping Sasha Banks.

Sasha

Banks

not giving her the time.

And then when we do it.

I see her in the air, and I think I'm too far, so I kind of try to get close.

was too late, where it looks like a kind of power bomber on the floor.

And then I just yell at myself, like, what the heck? You suck. You said you

would catch her, and you didn't catch her.

Back in the day, women would never get, this is

awesome.

They would get, we want to see your puppies.

Boo, the sacks.

But to have this is awesome,

instant, like, gratification.

When Bailey was reaching for the rope,

with her broken hand,

And I stopped it.

It was a reaction that I've never heard in my life before. It was like, oh, my

God. Oh, my. Like, what the hell are you doing?

When I got into the bank statement, I remember that felt like one of those

moments you watch as kids with all your favorite wrestlers where it's like.

Bailey trying to overcome the lack of self -confidence she's had trying to

overcome an injured hand.

Bailey to belly came from, I remember there being a practice where Sarah was

teaching us suplexes, vertical suplexes, side suplexes, belly to belly suplex.

And like no one picked the belly to belly suplex. And I was like, well, if

one wants that one, I'm going to start doing it.

And then when I started this.

The hugging stuff, I remember one of the first times I grabbed whoever it was

and did it. But as soon as I grabbed them, the crowd was like, ah, because I

hugging the person. Everybody was like, yeah, that should be your finish. It

fits your character perfectly.

It had

to have been my idea.

The challenger has something big in mind.

I go for the top rope Rana and she blocks it or throws me off.

So I try to do a backflip, I guess, or something. But I

landed backwards and kind of landed like on my neck, collarbone, shoulder.

But that was really scary. I remember watching replays of that and my family

kind of freaking out. But that was my fault. I don't know what I was thinking.

I just went for it. She's already got the injured hand. She crashed out hard

the middle. Oh, my goodness.

Look at the leg. Sasha gets a retain.

Kicked off by Bayley. That's why she's the champ. She never hesitates to

capitalize on an opportunity.

Gentlemen, sometimes when you push someone too far, they push back, and

push back very, very hard.

The first time I thought about doing a reverse Rana, I was like, I don't think

I've seen a girl really do that.

I don't think I've ever seen a girl do it really from the top rope.

I think I can do it.

Yes, I had doubts doing the reverse Rana.

I didn't know if I could do it. I'm like, I have to do a backflip while

on you.

I wanted to give her the match of her life, so I didn't want to say, like, I

don't want to do that, I'm too scared.

I remember her finally, after her elbow, sitting up on my shoulder, and I can

see people stand.

And she was like, dude, I promise you can do it, just throw your arms back.

We just did it.

That was like the most fired up moment I've ever felt.

Here we go!

And then she grabs me, belly to belly, and I've never hurt in

unison. One, two, three!

But when he counted to three, I literally sat up, and if you look at me,

just like, finally!

And I look over, and Mercedes is crying on the floor.

And then that just messed me up. Then I start crying, and then I look at my

family, and they're freaking crying.

I mean, you cut to Seth Rollins in the front row. He's got a tear in his eye.

You just know that that was something very, very special.

The crowd almost, like, stopped to let us have that moment of letting me say

thank you and giving her a hug.

It's like the whole building was just staring at that one hug. They knew what

was, you know?

Then I raised her hand and we put up the fort.

What the hell just happened? I feel like we really just changed the game

and the way that people view women in wrestling.

I think it's so cool that I can share this with Mercedes, Sasha Banks, because

we have had the same dream. And like, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been

able to evolve and transform into what I am now or fully follow my dream because

she's helped me believe in myself and find my confidence and find my voice.

I hope like.

There's, like, sisters out there or best friends out there that want to be like

Sasha and Bayley and want to be, like, women's tag team champions or something.

Can I speak in because I got to go back to work?

My gosh, I love my brother so much.

I love my brother.

And my brother loves it when I lose.

And it makes him so happy.

So when I came backstage, he has an instant smile on his face because I have

lost. And it makes him happy.

And my mom, you know, was just in awe.

For them to be there and for Bailey's parents to be there as well, it just

everything so complete. It made me feel like, thank you, Mom, for

letting me live my dream. And thank you for taking me

to wrestling schools and waiting in cars and taking me to my wrestling shows.

It's been crazy, but I'm so thankful that she let me live my dream.

I think I finally realized my whole life has been me trying

to find my power.

And it's been manifesting things from that very moment I saw wrestling.

Your validation is you doing the dream that you said that you wanted to do

you were 10 years old.

I keep on writing my goals. I keep on wanting to be better. I keep on wanting

be the best. I put it out there.

And that's the power of a dream.

It's saying it. It's believing it. It's doing it. And it's chasing it.

And letting you know that you can do it. It's up to you. That's your power.

And that's what I feel like a power of a dream is.