Bianca Belair
Bianca Belair | |
---|---|
![]() Belair in April 2018 | |
Birth name | Bianca Nicole Blair[1][2][3] |
Born | [1] Knoxville, Tennessee, United States[1] | April 9, 1989
Spouse(s) | |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Bianca Belair[4] Bianca Blair Binky Blair[5] |
Billed height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[4] |
Billed from | Knoxville, Tennessee[4] |
Trained by | WWE Performance Center[6] |
Debut | September 26, 2016[7] |
Bianca Nicole Blair Crawford (born April 9, 1989) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Bianca Belair.
Early life
Blair attended Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she succeeded in many sports such as track. Blair was a track and field athlete, who competed in the hurdles. She had what ESPN writer Sean Hurd called "a volatile six-year track career" that saw her attend three universities.[8] She first attended the University of South Carolina and then Texas A&M University, and later did not compete at all for a year, before completing her college career at the University of Tennessee, where she became All-SEC and All-American as well as being named to the SEC's academic honor roll in 2011 and 2012.[9][8] She was also a CrossFit competitor and powerlifter, having appeared in RX magazine, Femme Rouge magazine, and CrossFit.com. Blair was forced to abandon her CrossFit career due to intercostal chondritis, also known as shifting rib syndrome.[8]
Professional wrestling career
WWE
Early career (2016–2018)
Blair entered her information into the WWE prospects database shortly after the premature end of her CrossFit career "more on a whim than with an actual plan", according to Hurd.[8] Less than two weeks later, she received a social media message from 20–year WWE veteran Mark Henry, who had come across Blair's profile on the CrossFit circuit, saying he could get her a tryout, but emphasized that she had to do the work.[8] After two official tryouts,[8] Blair signed a contract with WWE on April 12, 2016, and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.[2] Blair made her first appearance during an in–ring segment at an NXT live event on June 25 as "Binky Blair", where she proclaimed to be the "EST of NXT... prettiest, baddest, strongest."[10][5][11] She made her in–ring debut in September, losing to Aliyah.[12]
On the May 3, 2017 episode of NXT, Blair made her television debut as part of a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, where she was eliminated by Billie Kay and Peyton Royce.[13] In June, Belair defeated Aliyah to qualify for the Mae Young Classic,[14] where she defeated Sage Beckett in the first round,[15] but was eliminated in the second round by the eventual tournament winner Kairi Sane.[16][17]
NXT (2018–2020)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Lacey_Evans_and_Bianca_Belair.jpg/250px-Lacey_Evans_and_Bianca_Belair.jpg)
After the Mae Young Classic, starting from the January 24, 2018 episode of NXT, Belair began an undefeated streak by defeating various competitors[18][19] such as Lacey Evans,[20] Candice LeRae,[21] Aliyah,[22] Dakota Kai[23] and Deonna Purrazzo.[24] On April 8, Belair made her Wrestlemania debut as she participated in the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34 alongside other women from the NXT roster, however, she was eliminated by Becky Lynch.[25] Throughout the rest of the year, Belair started a short feud with Nikki Cross, which led to two different matches between the two — one that ended in a double count–out[26] and one that ended in a no contest, after Aleister Black interrupted the match due to Cross' involvement in a storyline that involved him.[27] On the January 9, 2019 episode of NXT, Belair defeated Cross in what was Cross' final match as part of the brand before moving to the Main Roster, ending their feud in the process.[28]
In December 2018, Belair won a Fatal 4-way match against Lacey Evans, Mia Yim, and Io Shirai to become the number one contender for the NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler.[29][30][31] On January 26, 2019 at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, after multiple interferences by Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, Belair lost to Baszler, ending her undefeated streak at 367 days.[32]
Throughout the next few months, Belair continued to work as a tweener. In February, she teamed with The Sky Pirates (Sane and Shirai) to defeat The Horsewomen (Baszler, Duke and Shafir) in a six-woman tag match.[33] On the March 13 episode of NXT, a number 1 contenders match between Belair and Shirai ended in a no contest after Baszler interfered and attacked both competitors and Sane, who came to the ring to try and stop her. Later, a fatal 4-way match between Belair, Shirai, Sane, and Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship was announced and would take place at NXT TakeOver: New York on April 5.[34][35][36] At the TakeOver: New York event, Baszler once again retained her title as she submitted Belair.[37]
On the May 1 episode of NXT, Belair started a feud with Mia Yim after confronting Yim at the WWE Performance Center.[38] The next week, they had a match which Belair would win.[39] On the next episode of NXT, Yim confronted Belair backstage and said she wanted a rematch.[40] That match took place two weeks later where Yim would get the victory, the first pinfall lost for Belair in NXT.[41] A third match was scheduled for the June 5 episode of NXT, where Yim would once again pick up the victory.[42] A "relentless and aggressive" Belair would returned to NXT television in July, squashing both Priscilla Zuniga[43][44] and Xia Li[45] in less than three minutes, and defeating Taynara Conti on the September 4 episode. After that match, a triple threat match between Belair, Yim, and Io Shirai to determine the number 1 contender for the NXT Women's Championship was announced.[46] A week later, Candice LeRae would be added to the match, making it a fatal 4-way. The match would be the first match on the debut episode of NXT on the USA network, where LeRae would emerge victorious.[47][48] After defeating Dakota Kai on the October 9 episode of NXT, Belair would challenge NXT Women's title contender Rhea Ripley to a match.[49] The match took place two weeks later with Ripley gaining the victory despite outside interference from Shirai and LeRae.[50]
On the November 1 episode of SmackDown, Belair was one of the many NXT wrestlers to invade the show, when she attacked Carmella and Dana Brooke before their scheduled match against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. Later that night, Belair joined Triple H and the rest of the NXT roster as they declared war on both Raw and SmackDown, and vowed to win the Survivor Series brand warfare.[51][52] At NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Belair and Team Baszler (NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, and NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray) faced Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Tegan Nox) in the first ever women's WarGames match, where Ripley would give her team the victory by pinning Baszler.[53] The following night at Survivor Series, Belair was part of Team NXT (along with Ripley, LeRae, Shirai, and Toni Storm) who defeated Team Raw (Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane, and Sarah Logan) and Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, and Nikki Cross) in the 5-on-5-on-5 women's elimination match, which her team won after Ripley pinned SmackDown's captain Sasha Banks.[54][55]
On the January 15, 2020 episode of NXT, Belair won a women's battle royal to earn a NXT Women's Championship match against Rhea Ripley at NXT TakeOver: Portland.[56][57] At the 2020 Royal Rumble, Belair entered her first Women's Royal Rumble match at Number 2, eliminating a record 8 other superstars, before being eliminated by the eventual winner Charlotte Flair after lasting for 33 minutes and 20 seconds.[58] Flair, the 2020 Royal Rumble winner, appeared on the February 5 episode of NXT to answer Ripley's challenge for an NXT Championship match at WrestleMania 36. Belair, Ripley's title contender at Takeover: Portland, would confront Flair before they were interrupted by Ripley, with Belair and Ripley eventually teaming up to attack Flair.[59]
Ripley would go on to defeat Belair at TakeOver: Portland before Flair attacked both Ripley and Belair after the match.[60] On the February 19 episode of NXT, Belair would interrupt a match between Chelsea Green and Kayden Carter to cut a promo on Flair and challenge the Raw superstar to meet her on NXT.[61] A match between the two was scheduled for the next episode of NXT, where Flair would get the victory and would injure Belair's ankle with a chair after the match before Ripley would run-in and chase Flair away. Also, this turned out to be Belair's last match in NXT.[62][63]
Main roster (2020–present)
At WrestleMania 36, Belair turned face by saving The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and her husband Montez Ford) from Zelina Vega, Angel Garza and Austin Theory. The following night on Raw, Belair established herself as a member of the Raw roster, as she came to the aid of The Street Profits, again against Vega, Garza and Theory, which led to a six person tag match, with Belair and The Street Profits being victorious. On the August 14 episode of Smackdown she was in a battle royal to determine who faced Bayley. She eliminated Tamina Snuka before being eliminated by Tegan Nox.
As part of the 2020 Draft in October, Belair was drafted to the SmackDown brand.[64] On the October 30th edition of SmackDown, Belair defeated Billie Kay and Natalya in a triple threat match to qualify for the 2020 SmackDown women’s Survivor Series team.[65]
Other media
Bianca Belair made her video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K19.[66] Belair also features in WWE2K20. In late January 2020, WWE.com revealed Belair's first action figure debuting in Mattel's Basic Series 107.[67][68]
Personal life
On June 9, 2017, it was announced that Blair was engaged to fellow professional wrestler Kenneth Crawford, who competes on SmackDown as Montez Ford.[69] The couple married on June 23, 2018, making her stepmother to Crawford's two children from a previous relationship.[70]
Championships and accomplishments
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 23 of the top 100 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 100 in 2020[71]
- Ranked No. 36 of the top 100 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 100 in 2019[72]
- Sports Illustrated
- Ranked No. 9 in the top 10 female wrestlers of the year in 2018[73]
References
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External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Bianca Belair on WWE.com
- Bianca Belair on Twitter
- Bianca Belair on Instagram
- Bianca Belair's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database