Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado wasn’t like other girls growing up. Unlike most 10-year-old girls, Mercedes knew exactly where she belonged at a young age. And that place would be inside of a squared circle as a professional wrestler. Despite growing up during an era where women’s wrestling was more about sexuality than wrestling ability, Kaestner-Varnado dedicated herself to the craft. Fast forward to a dozen years later and Kaestner-Varnado, now known as Sasha Banks, has seem her dream become a reality as one of the best performers on the WWE roster, male or female.

View photos Sasha Banks More

In the six years she’s been training, the 24-year-old has won the NXT Women’s Championship, put on matches that fans have raved about and, in a few days, will be wrestling in her first WrestleMania in a triple-threat match for the WWE Divas Championship against Charlotte and Becky Lynch. Before she walks down the ramp at AT&T Stadium, Yahoo Sports caught up with “The Boss” to discuss breaking down barriers, realizing her dream, the late Eddie Guerrero, and if her cousin, Snoop Dogg, will be in attendance for the biggest moment of her career at WrestleMania 32.

Have you had the opportunity to allow everything from the past year truly sink in?

To be honest, I haven’t. Every time I think about it I start to cry, especially with WrestleMania coming up. I have to psyche myself out because it just doesn’t feel real. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time and I’m so excited. This year has been so insane. To know I have a WrestleMania match and I haven’t been on the main roster for a year yet is kind of mind blowing right now.

When I tell you that you are a pioneer for the new era of women’s wrestling, what does that mean to you?

It means everything to me. People dream to be in the WWE but my dream is to be the best in the WWE. They can have the money and fame. My dream is to become known as the greatest wrestler of all time.

Let’s go back to when you expressed interest in becoming a pro wrestler as a kid. How did your family respond to a girl wanting to be wrestler?

They didn’t believe me. My mom was like “What did I do as a mom for you to want to become a wrestler?” They just didn’t understand and it’s really hard to explain what made me love wrestling so much. There’s something about it that made me fall in love and ever since I laid my eyes on it I knew I wanted to be a professional wrestler in the WWE. But nobody believed I’d make it this far. I told everyone that I was going to be a pro wrestler ever since I was 10 years old and now I can show them that I did it.

How did you figure out what path to take to become a pro wrestler because there really wasn’t one at the time, especially for a woman looking to get into the business?

I remember looking up wrestling schools at the age of 10 and I emailed so many people. The responses were that I had to be 16 or 18 to train and that was a bummer. When I finally turned 18, I found a pro wrestling school in New England and I was the only girl there. I trained my butt off every single day just to show them I could hang with the boys. I only spent two years on the independent scene, which is a very short time for people. I remember when I went to FCW [Florida Championship Wrestling] and said to myself “Wow, I finally did it.” That was just the beginning. It was so hard for me to find a character, create a name and a persona. But, finally, “The Boss” came out because I wanted to show the world that I was the best. A year later I’m living out my dream and it’s insane.

Story continues