Bianca Belair Says WWE NXT Match Made Her Cry “Happy Tears”
WWE star Bianca Belair stopped by Mark Andrews' My Love Letter To Wrestling podcast to talk about her career with the WWE.
One thing Bianca Belair touched on was the times she felt she was, in her words, walking with purpose in WWE. She pointed to two matches that made her realize wrestling was what she was born to do and that she was good enough to hang with top talent.
"The first time I felt like 'okay, I found something, this is what I was born to do' and that feeling of finally walking in your purpose, that moment for me was the Mae Young Classic," Belair said. "I was so new. I don't even know if I was a year in and I had a match with Kairi Sane, and I remember just having this moment of like, crying backstage and like, 'I finally found my purpose. This is what I was born to do', and I felt my potential in that moment and I was so excited about it.
"But, for me, another moment for me was NXT Takeover New York. It was a Fatal 4-way and I was so nervous because I was in the ring with Kairi Sane, Io Shirai, and Shayna Baszler. And these are women who have been in the game for years and have so many accolades, and I was this homegrown development talent. I was like, 'I gotta show that I hang with these girls.' And then after that, I remember I was crying so much and everybody was like, 'are those happy tears or are those sad tears?' I was like, 'they're happy tears because I hung with them. I stood out.'"
To date, the highlights of Bianca Belair's career in WWE have been winning the 2021 Royal Rumble and then going on to defeat Sasha Banks for the WWE Smackdown Women's Championship in the main event of Night One of WrestleMania 37. Bianca Belair discussed always being ready for opportunities in WWE, and how she was surprisingly calm prior to the match with Banks.
"Being in WWE, opportunities come so fast and out of nowhere that you just have to be prepared," Belair said. "So even if you feel like it's not the right time, you have to capitalize on that. I feel like all the pieces really fell into place for me with winning the Royal Rumble and then main eventing WrestleMania with Sasha Banks. And then I feel like, I'm a big person of just always being prepared and being ready. I don't like to ask for things because I just like for them, when they fall, when they come into my area, that I capitalize on it.
"But I've been preparing for it ever since I stepped into WWE. Whenever someone asks you, 'what is your goal in WWE?' you always say, 'main eventing WrestleMania.' That's something we always want, and I feel like sometimes, we just say it. But when the moment was actually happening, I was like, 'okay, it's here.' But ironically, usually, I'm very, very antsy and nervous, and I can't stop moving backstage. But I remember before the match, I looked at my husband and I was just like, 'I'm okay.' And I had this weird sense of just calm. I was very calm. I was just like, 'I'm ready for this.'"
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit My Love Letter To Wrestling and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription