ESPN‘s Marc Raimondi received an opportunity to pick the brains of Becky Lynch, Bayley, Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair before the four foes and/or friends tag up against one another tonight on WWE RAW in Madison Square Garden. Raimondi asks the competitors about their memories in FCW and NXT and what they want to see the future hold for them as far as their WWE careers go. Select quotes are below:
What are your earliest memories of the rest of the ‘Four Horsewomen’?
Sasha Banks: The first one I met was Charlotte Flair. We were in class together doing a drill and our coach told us to lock up and instantly we just snapped — the chemistry was just there. From the instant of the lock up, I knew I would be making magic with her in the future in that ring.
Charlotte Flair: The very first time Sasha and I locked up in the ring, [WWE developmental trainer] Sara Del Ray was like, “Wow, that’s chemistry.” I’ll remember that forever.
Bayley: The first day I met Sasha, they kicked everyone out of the gym, except for me and her, and the trainers and told us to have a match. We had never met, I didn’t know her at all.
Banks: I was Bayley’s tryout match when she first came down to FCW/NXT. And the chemistry was just right there, too. They just told us to go out there — I didn’t know anything about her — and just have a match. We did and it was just magical.
Bayley: Charlotte and Paige took me around and introduced me to everyone at FCW in Tampa. Charlotte was kind of like the leader. Maybe leader isn’t the right word. But I felt like Charlotte was always kind of the mom of the group.
Flair: When Becky came in later, she was just this larger than life, charismatic, nicest person I’ve ever met. Not that she was so nice, she just had that charm — that Irish charm. She had taken time off for a few years, so it was just a matter of time to figure out things again, to feel where she was in the ring.
Becky Lynch: The other three saw how much I loved this, how much I wanted this to work and things weren’t easy for me. We all kind of worked together and we were so competitive, we always wanted to one-up the other person. We all wanted to do a better job. Nobody wants to be left behind. I think that really pushed us to grow and keep improving.
Banks: Becky was really cool. Me and her became friends and it turned into B.A.E. — Best At Everything. We were a tag team for a little bit.
Lynch: I was always the underdog, the one that wasn’t the shiny one in the spotlight. I was probably the comedian of the group, I suppose, when we began. The clown, if you will. The one always making jokes and things, trying to be nice to everybody and get along with everybody. Bayley was like that, too.
When did each of you realize what the Four Horsewomen could be?
Bayley: For me, it was when we had the Fatal Four-Way at NXT TakeOver: Rival in February 2015 when I knew as a group we had a chance to be something special and make history.
Flair: I knew that we were all talented, but when the four of us faced off together I think it was the first time you realized, wow, there are four individual stars with characters, and the depth of the division in NXT at the time and just the chemistry the four of us had together. I think that’s what stood out the most.
Banks: I feel like that match is what really put us on the map and how people started calling us The Four Horsewoman. We just wanted to make magic and we wanted people to care. We wanted people to watch our matches and go, “Wow, these girls can definitely change the game.” And now here we are.
Lynch: We all had similar ambitions. We’re all very different people and we all love this business. We all come from such different walks of life, but we just had an ambition and a drive and just wanted to do well.
Flair: It was one of the first NXT traveling shows when we left Florida. NXT was going out of state. We had a Fatal Four Way [at a non-televised event] and that’s when we were first called The Four Horsewomen. It wasn’t like, OK, we’re gonna call ourselves this. Someone called us this and we were like, this is us. I hate to use the word organic, but it was very organic. I just remember we were being interviewed and they took a picture of the four of us backstage.
Lynch: I do remember sitting around doing an interview with all four of us in Philadelphia. It was when NXT was just starting to travel. We were there at the beginning of all that stuff when NXT was taking off. We had gone from wrestling in front of 30, 40 people to now we were traveling and selling out any arena or theater we were going to. We were watching NXT grow and The Four Horsewomen was such an important part of that.
Bayley: We didn’t necessarily talk to each other about making history or changing anything. It was more just something understood between us.
Banks: Before, they were telling us we had to train like “Divas.” No one ever explained what that was. We wanted just to be superstars and we wanted to do it just like the men. Every class, every house show, every match we just wanted to make special and we wanted people to say, “Whoa, these girls are amazing and they can actually have a better match than the guys.” That’s what I wanted every time I went out. I think they had the same mentality, too. I think that’s why we were all just so connected. We worked our butts off for people to respect our craft in the ring.
What does the future hold for the Four Horsewomen?
Bayley: They’ve all been champions and they probably will be champions again. But now it’s me. I don’t think any of us are content or satisfied, even though we’ve achieved so much.
Lynch: Just more main events. Just constantly main eventing and generating interest, whether it’s the main event or not. And that’s what we’re doing. Look, that’s all I’ve ever wanted — for women’s wrestling to be the coolest thing on TV, for people to be talking, for people to have opinions, for people to be so invested they can’t miss our matches.
Banks: I want to main event every pay-per-view, I want to main event every TV, I want to main event every house show. I want it just like as the guys do — I want to have it all. I’m never gonna be satisfied. Even when I get that, I’m gonna want more. That’s just the kind of person that I am.
Flair: I hope the future holds the four of us in a Fatal Four Way in the main event of WrestleMania. That’s what I hope the future holds. I’m not saying it’s this year, next year, the next or the next after that. But eventually I truly believe that the Fatal Four Way will be a main event match at WrestleMania.
