
On October 22, KV lost her debut singles match to Danny E, and lost a rematch to him on November 13. KV and Roxx quickly formed an alliance, teaming together regularly and accompanying each other to ringside. She made her in-ring debut, under the ring name Mercedes KV, on October 1, 2010, in an intergender tag team match, where she teamed with Nikki Roxx in a losing effort to Alexxis and Danny E. Kaestner-Varnado began training at Chaotic Wrestling (CW), based in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 2008. Professional wrestling career Chaotic Wrestling (2010–2012) She went to school online and grew up watching All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW). They later settled in Boston, Massachusetts, where she began her professional wrestling career. Her family moved to various places, including Minnesota, to find schools and hospitals for her autistic brother, Joshua. Her father was African-American and her mother is of German descent.

Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado was born on January 26, 1992, in Fairfield, California to Reo and Judith Varnado.

Their match was voted by Pro Wrestling Illustrated ( PWI) as Match of the Year, with Banks also being voted as Woman of the Year.īanks went on to hold the Raw Women's Championship five times. Her match against Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Respect in October 2015 was the first women's match to ever headline a NXT TakeOver, the first iron woman match in WWE history, and the longest women's match in WWE history at the time with a length of 30 minutes. She was promoted to WWE's main roster in 2015. She signed with WWE in 2012 and was assigned to the NXT brand. Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado (born January 26, 1992) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE as a member of the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sasha Banks.īanks previously wrestled on the independent circuit, most notably for Chaotic Wrestling, where she won the Chaotic Wrestling Women's Championship.
