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 Whats Your Story podcast, Belair reiterates her motto on representation.
Its so important. I always use the quote, representation is not a request, its 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 dont see anybody else doing that, so Im 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 dont know. So, representation is super important. I feel like I always try to remember that exact with what Im doing now and it brings a purpose to what youre doing. I think thats really what that moment was about and thats 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, its 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. Ive 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 didnt 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 were breaking down together about it. Then, it was a crazy day, a thunderstorm and we didnt know if WrestleMania was gonna happen because it was outside. They were telling us its postponed, theres a curfew. They were like, If youre in the middle of the match and lightning strikes, you have to stop. We were like, no. We aint stopping the match [laughs]. But there was so much build up and anticipation, we didnt know if we were gonna be the main event, all of the sudden theres 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, its coming, tears are coming. You couldnt even tell the stadium was half-filled because it was super loud. Im standing across from her and Im like, oh wow, were here. Im trying to be serious and I just feel it. Im just like, all the tears are coming and then theyre coming and Im like, its about to be an ugly cry. Im trying to hold it in, I dont 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 youre about to fight and I was like, I look weak and Im 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, Lets go. I got in the moment and I was cool. She saw it and shes like, dont go there, lets go. (Fightful/Transcript)
For the full podcast episode you can view it below:
