Bianca Belair Reveals Which WWE Hall Of Famer Helped Her Create Her EST Character
WWE SmackDown Superstar Bianca Beliar has revealed that it was a conversation with WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry that inspired the idea behind her EST character — which implies that she is the fastest, strongest, prettiest, and greatest overall superstar in the WWE.
In an interview with Inside the Ropes, Belair recalled the moment when Henry approached her at the WWE Performance Center a few years ago.
"Well, when I was in NXT, and I was new, I remember Mark Henry coming down to NXT, to the Performance Center and asking me, 'Who do you want to be What do you want people to see and think of when they see you?' And you want it to be so easy that people already know who you are, what you're about without you even having to open your mouth,'" recalled Belair.
She continued, "And so I was sitting there trying to figure out who I want to be, 'I know I'm strong, I know I'm fast, I know I'm tough and I'm all these things, I feel like I'm a hybrid.' But it was just all over the place and I couldn't break it down to simplify it so that people could very easily understand it."
After all that brainstorming, Belair said she managed to encompass everything her character stood for in three simple letters.
"I remember being like, 'OK, I have to pick one thing and focus on one thing so it's very simple,'" said said. "And so I remember I was talking one day, and I was like, 'Yeah. you know, I'm just the strongest and I'm the fastest, and I'm the roughest, I'm the toughest, I'm the quickest, I'm the greatest, I'm the prettiest, I'm the best. I'm just? I'm the est. I'm the est. The E-S-T. And I'm in NXT. EST rhymes with NXT. Simple'."
The EST of WWE also touched upon the role played by her hair in establishing her character and winning over fans.
"And that's really how all the thoughts in my head and how it all just came together to be the EST of NXT at the time. And I was like, 'I could put EST on my clothing,' and, you know, I go in there and it's very just very simple.
"I wear the long signature braid so that people see me, even if they see me for the very first time and they might not catch my name the very first time. They always go, "The girl with the braid," you know, so I always stand out. And that's really just how my character all just came together to being the EST."
Belair is currently in a feud with Bayley on SmackDown. Although the two women have yet to be booked for this Sunday's TLC pay-per-view, there is the possibility they wrestle this weekend unless WWE is saving their match for January's Royal Rumble event.