Bianca Belair is one of the finest homegrown stars WWE has ever created – she’s that good.
That might seem like hyperbole at first, but considering she knew very little of pro wrestling before joining WWE, she’s become one of their top acts from nothing and has one of the most obvious superstar appeals since a young Brock Lesnar.
Now, WWE is entering the WrestleMania season stretch where the biggest matchups are made on the biggest stage.
Belair was unable to repeat her 2021 Royal Rumble victory this year, but with Ronda Rousey – who did win it – facing Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 38, the door appears wide open for Belair to exact revenge on Becky Lynch for her 26 second SummerSlam loss.
talkSPORT caught up with Belair at a BT Sport event in London and she had some interesting words on Ronda Rousey, John Cena and Vince McMahon.
On wanting to face Ronda Rousey now it seems possible…
“Definitely. The fact that Ronda is back in WWE, I think there is definitely a possibility on the table. I’ve been an athlete my whole life and I love competition, I crave competition, I run to competition.
“So anytime I have the chance to get in the ring with someone like Ronda Rousey and all of her accolades I will run towards that opportunity. I can’t wait for the possibilities in the future with Ronda Rousey.”
On if she ever considered MMA training…
“Yes I am very strong, very rough and tough, but I don’t know. It has crossed my mind; I have respect for the sport, I have respect for the art and the craft of it and I know if I ever tried to go in that world I would have to train like crazy.
“I don’t know if I have the discipline to just get hit and keep my composure and not start hair whipping people [laughs] I don’t know. I’d start throwing kicks left and right and next thing I know I’d have a kick to the head and be knocked out! I don’t know if I’d have that discipline.”
On her best interaction with Vince McMahon…
“Before the Royal Rumble [that she won], I had just gotten to SmackDown and I think they caught the interaction on camera. I think it was an episode right before Christmas and I went to shake Vince’s hand and he just gave me confirmation: ‘You’ve got everything. You got the look, the athleticism. Keep doing what you’re doing, you’re on the right path.’
“So for me to get that affirmation from Vince McMahon it really just boosted my confidence.”
On what John Cena said to her after her SummerSlam match with Becky Lynch…
“I really got to talk with John Cena a lot after the 26 seconds moment at SummerSlam. He really just gave me a lot of great advice and keep the right perspective of everything.
“Basically the gist of what he said was ‘moments like this you can really use to propel you. You see how much the fans really get behind you.’ For me, out of that, I was able to look at the longer picture, the bigger picture and hopefully one day it’ll come back full circle, who knows.
“But for me, I took it as you can use this as an opportunity to show who you are without that title. I’m still the EST of WWE and I’m still going to go out there and show out every single time I step in the ring and you really get to see who’s behind you.
“Ironically, I think that moment really propelled me and made me a bigger star.”
On who is the funniest superstar in the WWE locker room…
“Obviously my husband [Montez Ford]! I spent 95 percent of the time laughing at him, but on the women’s side, Liv Morgan. I’ve never met anyone like her.
“She’s just quirky and hilarious and says these things that I’m like ‘how did you come up with that’ and I don’t know if she’ll get mad at me for saying this, but Shayna Baszler is a very, very funny person.
“Behind the toughness and hard exterior is a really funny person inside of there.”
BT Sport is the exclusive live broadcaster of WWE in the UK, showing WWE Raw, WWE Smackdown, NXT and NXT UK plus all the year’s biggest Premium Live Events on BT Sport Box Office, including WrestleMania 38 on April 2nd and April 3rd