Bianca Belair has been one of the biggest successes in WWE over the past several years. She has been able to break so many barriers, and not just for women, but for Black women.
Sitting down with Stephanie McMahon on the What’s Your Story podcast, Belair reiterates her motto on representation.
“It’s so important. I always use the quote, representation is not a request, it’s a requirement. Because representation, it shows you what the possibilities are out there for you. A lot of times, you do need to see that example. It takes a special person to say, I want to do that, but I don’t see anybody else doing that, so I’m gonna be the first person to do it and then I can be representation and open the doors for other people. It takes a lot of guts and courage and sometimes, you just don’t know. So, representation is super important. I feel like I always try to remember that exact with what I’m doing now and it brings a purpose to what you’re doing. I think that’s really what that moment was about and that’s why that moment was so special.”
Belair would go on to give a lot of credit to her opponent at WrestleMania 36, Sasha Banks. The two women became the first Black women to ever main event WrestleMania.
“I mean, your main eventing WrestleMania for one. If you ask any talent in WWE, ‘What is your goal in WWE’, it’s to main event WrestleMania. I was able to do that my first year on the main roster. To do it with someone like Sasha, she took such great care of me in that match because I was so new. The fact that I won that match, but I remember talking and telling her that was more than just a WrestleMania match. I’ve only watched that match back once or twice because I get so emotional.
McMahon proceeded to ask Belair to describe the opening moment of the match where she broke down in tears.
“That moment, I remember we didn’t know if we were main eventing or not. We kind of found out the same time as everybody on the internet, I remember we both just broke down. We were told at the same time, it kinda broke and everybody was going crazy about it and we’re breaking down together about it. Then, it was a crazy day, a thunderstorm and we didn’t know if WrestleMania was gonna happen because it was outside. They were telling us it’s postponed, there’s a curfew. They were like, ‘If you’re in the middle of the match and lightning strikes, you have to stop.’ We were like, no. We ain’t stopping the match [laughs]. But there was so much build up and anticipation, we didn’t know if we were gonna be the main event, all of the sudden there’s a thunderstorm, and then if you get advice from anybody about WrestleMania, for me they always say just slow down and take your time and absorb it because it happens so fast. We decided that we wanted to feel that moment. Standing in that ring with her, we were just supposed to just stand there and let the crowd get into it and feel the moment. Then I was just like, it’s coming, tears are coming. You couldn’t even tell the stadium was half-filled because it was super loud. I’m standing across from her and I’m like, ‘oh wow, we’re here.’ I’m trying to be serious and I just feel it. I’m just like, all the tears are coming and then they’re coming and I’m like, it’s about to be an ugly cry. I’m trying to hold it in, I don’t want to cry in the ring. [Sasha] did [too], but she held it together a little bit better than me. The last place you want to cry is in the ring when you’re about to fight and I was like, I look weak and I’m about to lose it. It was about to get to a shoulder shaking cry and I think Sasha saw it and she looked at me and goes, ‘Let’s go.’ I got in the moment and I was cool. She saw it and she’s like, don’t go there, let’s go.” (Fightful/Transcript)
For the full podcast episode you can view it below:
