Sasha Banks

Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado (born January 26, 1992) is an American professional wrestler and actress.

She is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name Mercedes Moné, where she is a former IWGP Women's Champion.

Varnado also appears in NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom.

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

Her mother is of German descent, while her father was African-American.

Her family moved to various places, including Minnesota, to find schools and hospitals for her autistic brother Joshua.

They settled in Boston, where she began her professional wrestling career.

She went to school online and grew up watching All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW).

Kaestner-Varnado began training with Chaotic Wrestling in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 2008.

Varnado began her wrestling career in 2010 on the independent circuit, most notably for Chaotic Wrestling, where she won the Chaotic Wrestling Women's Championship.

She made her debut on August 8, 2010, working under the ring name "Mercedes KV".

Between 2010 and 2012, she also worked for New England Championship Wrestling (NECW) and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

In December 2011, she won the Chaotic Wrestling Women's Championship by defeating Alexxis in a "I Quit" match.

She is best known for her time in WWE from 2012 to 2022, where she performed under the ring name Sasha Banks.

She signed with WWE in 2012 under the ring name Sasha Banks and was assigned to the developmental territory NXT.

She would later win the NXT Women's Championship.

She held the title for 378 days, vacating it in December 2012 after signing a contract with WWE.

In June 2012, Kaestner-Varnado participated in a WWE tryout camp and on August 18, it was announced that she had been signed to a contract.

She was assigned to NXT, WWE's developmental territory, where she adopted the ring name Sasha Banks, and made her televised debut on NXT on December 12, losing to Paige.

Banks then entered a storyline where she received letters from a secret admirer, who was eventually revealed to be Audrey Marie, who returned and attacked Banks on the February 20 episode of NXT, due to Marie's jealousy of Banks' success.

Marie went on to defeat Banks in a match later that episode.

Banks' feud with Marie came to an end on the April 3 episode of NXT, when Banks teamed with Paige to defeat Marie and Summer Rae.

On the June 19 episode of NXT, Banks competed in the NXT Women's Championship tournament to determine the inaugural champion, but lost to Rae in the first round.

After weeks of influence by Summer Rae to make herself relevant, Banks was defeated by the NXT Women's Champion Paige on the September 11 episode of NXT, after which she attacked Paige after the latter attempted to console her, Banks turned heel.

Two weeks later on NXT, Banks defeated Bayley, while accompanied by Rae.

After the match, Banks cut a promo with Rae and debuted a new gimmick as "The Boss".

Banks and Rae, who dubbed themselves The Beautiful, Fierce Females (BFFs), faced Paige and Emma on the October 16 episode of NXT, where they emerged victorious.

On the November 13 episode of NXT, the BFFs defeated Bayley and Charlotte in a tag team match, when Charlotte attacked Bayley and aligned herself with Banks and Rae.

In mid-January 2014, as Rae moved up to WWE's main roster, Banks and Charlotte began a rivalry with Bayley, who had aligned herself with Natalya, and lost in both singles and tag team matches.

Her match against Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Respect in October 2015 was the first women's match to ever headline an NXT TakeOver, the first iron woman match in WWE history, and the longest women's match in WWE history at the time, lasting 30 minutes.

Their match was voted by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) as Match of the Year, with Varnado also being voted as Woman of the Year.

In 2015, Varnado was promoted to WWE's main roster, where she went on to hold the Raw Women's Championship five times.

In 2016, she and Charlotte Flair became the first women to headline a WWE pay-per-view event, the first to compete in a Hell in a Cell match, and the first to win the PWI award for Feud of the Year.

In 2019, she won the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Championship with tag team partner, Bayley, at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

In 2020, she won the SmackDown Women's Championship at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, becoming a Women's Grand Slam Champion and Triple Crown Champion.

That year, she was named Wrestler of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

At WrestleMania 37, Varnado and opponent Bianca Belair became the first two black women to headline a WrestleMania.

After creative issues in 2022, Varnado walked out of WWE and was unable to negotiate a new contract.

She made her debut for NJPW/Stardom at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January 2023 under the ring name Mercedes Moné.

Outside of wrestling, Varnado portrays the recurring character Koska Reeves in the second and third seasons of the Disney+ space Western series The Mandalorian.