B-Fab
B-Fab | |
---|---|
Birth name | Briana Brandy |
Born | [1] Canton, Ohio, U.S. | November 22, 1990
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Briana Brandy B-Fab |
Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) |
Billed weight | 137 lb (62 kg) |
Trained by | Dru Onyx WWE Performance Center |
Debut | December 5, 2019 |
Briana Brandy[1][2][3] (born November 22, 1990) is an American musician and professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name B-Fab and is as a member of The Pride stable.
Early life
Brandy is from Canton, Ohio. She played basketball and competed in swimming during her high school years.[4]
Professional wrestling career
WWE (2019–2021; 2022–present)
During summer of 2017, Brandy participated in a WWE tryout which featured wrestling names such as Cody Deaner and Mike Taverna. On August 28, 2019, it was reported that WWE signed Brandy to a developmental contract.[5]
NXT (2019–2021)
On December 5, 2019, Brandy made her debut during a live event during which she teamed with Taynara in a successful women's tag team match defeating Catalina Garcia & Rita Reis.[6] The following year on February 28, 2020, she wrestled her first singles match at a NXT live event against Kayden Carter.[7] On March 6 and March 7, Brandy wrestled her final live events,[7] just one week before the COVID-19 pandemic was acknowledged in the United States, effectively restricting all sports businesses from holding live audience events.[8] She wrestled only eight matches, between years 2019 and 2020. On the September 14 episode of NXT, Briana Brandy won her only singles match victory by defeating Katrina Cortez.[6][7] Under her new name B-Fab, on the May 11, 2021 episode of NXT, she appeared alongside the recently-formed the stable Hit Row.[9] On the September 28 episode of NXT, her final match was a No Disqualification rules match against Elektra Lopez, but she was not successful.[10]
SmackDown (2021; 2022–present)
B-Fab made her main roster debut at the SmackDown brand after being drafted alongside Hit Row during the 2021 WWE Draft.[11] On November 8, 2021, she was released from her contract alongside Hit Row due to budget cuts.[12]
On the August 12, 2022 episode of SmackDown, Hit Row made their unannounced return as faces, where Top Dolla and Ashante "Thee" Adonis (accompanied by B-Fab) defeated two local competitors.[13] B-Fab made her main roster in-ring debut at the women's Royal Rumble match as the seventh entrant at Royal Rumble on January 28, 2023. She was eliminated in 36 seconds by eventual winner Rhea Ripley.[14][15][16] Hit Row was quietly disbanded with the release of Top Dolla in September 2023[17] and with Adonis being announced as a new tag team with Cedric Alexander in February 2024.[18]
On the February 2, 2024 episode of SmackDown, B-Fab joined Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits as The Pride and took out The Final Testament's Scarlett.[19][20] At Night 2 of WrestleMania XL on April 7, B-Fab assisted The Pride to defeat The Final Testament in a Philadelphia Street Fight match.[21]
Music career
Brandy's involvement in music includes tours with the rap artists Soulja Boy and Jadakiss as well as work with Juicy J, Ying Yang Twins, Too $hort, Young Dro, and Kurupt.[4]
Briana Brandy (aka B-Fab) has also released multiple songs since 2013 that have made it ITunes Apple Music.[22]
On March 6, 2023, Hit Row was once more partially fully reunited as rapper Monteasy dropped a music video by the name of Price Went Up featuring A.J. Francis (aka FRAN¢/Top Dolla), Rich Latta, Stephon Strickland (Swerve The Realest/Isaiah "Swerve" Scott) & Briana Brandy (B-Fab).[23][24]
On July 21, 2023, Brandy, alongside A.J. Francis (Top Dolla) and Tehuti Miles (Ashante "Thee" Adonis) as part of Hit Row, dropped a freestyle single by the name of Barbie Barz.[25][26]
Professional wrestling style and persona
Her athletic background includes work as a boxing coach. Brandy also trained in Ninjutsu and has been involved in Cross Fitness.[4]
Other media
Alongside Hit Row members Ashante "Thee" Adonis and Top Dolla, Brandy as B-Fab (as a Manager; and probably Non-Playable) made their video game debut in WWE 2K23 as DLC characters in the Steiner Row Pack DLC bundle.[27]
References
- ^ a b Staff, Thesmackdownhotel.com. "B-FAB". Thesmackdownhotel.com. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ "B-FAB". Cagematch.com. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ "Briana Brandy Actress • Music Department". IMDb.com. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ a b c Duffy, John. "5 Things You Didn't Know About Hit Row's B-FAB". Itrwrestling.com. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
- ^ UNKNOWN, STAFF (14 August 2019). "Briana Brandy Signs With WWE". Sescoops.com. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ a b Staff, Profightdb.com. "B-FAB (2019 Matches)". Profightdb.com. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- ^ a b c Staff, Profightdb.com. "B-FAB (2020 Matches)". Profightdb.com. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
- ^ Dawson, Alan. "The inside story of the WWE ThunderDome, a futuristic arena built for the pandemic, which has had 130,000 total entry requests from fans since August". Businessinsider.com. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
- ^ Staff, WWE. "Isaiah "Swerve" Scott introduces Hit Row: WWE NXT, May 11, 2021". WWE.com. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ Staff, WWE. "B-Fab vs. Elektra Lopez – No Disqualification Match: WWE NXT 2.0, Sept. 28, 2021". WWE.com. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ Sutter, Robbie (2 October 2021). "NXT Superstars Hit Row Drafted to SmackDown". Lastwordonsports.com. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
- ^ Konuwa, Alfred. "WWE Releases Hit Row, Others As Cuts Swell To Over 80 Superstars". Forbes.com. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ Powell, Jason (August 12, 2022). "8/12 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Gunther vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship, Liv Morgan and Shayna Baszler contract signing for WWE Clash at the Castle, Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah vs. Xia Li and Shotzi in a WWE Women's Tag Title tournament match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
- ^ "7️⃣: B-Fab #RoyalRumble". WWE Twitter.
- ^ "This is B-Fab's first WWE main roster match ever. It's her third televised match ever". Sean Ross Sapp Twitter.
- ^ "Michael Cole said that B-Fab, who lasted less than 40 seconds in the Rumble match, still lasted longer than Top Dolla would have. Damn. #RoyalRumble". Jimmy Van Twitter.
- ^ Jenkins, H. (September 21, 2023). "WWE Releases Top Dolla From His Contract". Ringside News. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
- ^ WWE (February 9, 2024). "Ashante "Thee" Adonis & Cedric Alexander look to make a statement: SmackDown exclusive, Feb. 9, 2024". YouTube.
- ^ SCHIPMAN, SAMANTHA (3 February 2024). "B-Fab Joins Bobby Lashley, Street Profits Against Final Testament On WWE SmackDown". Wrestlinginc.com. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
- ^ Thomas, Jeremy. "WRESTLING / NEWS B-Fab Allies With Bobby Lashley & Street Profits On WWE Smackdown". 411mania.com. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (April 7, 2024). "WrestleMania XL results: Powell's live review of night two with Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Universal Championship with Bloodline Rules, Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
- ^ "Briana Brandy". iTunes.com / Apple Music. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
- ^ Unknown, Swerve City Podcast. "Monteasy - Price Went Up feat. FRAN¢, Rich Latta, Swerve The Realest & Briana Brandy (Music Video)". Www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ^ Unknown, SP3 (7 March 2023). "SWERVE STRICKLAND, TOP DOLLA & B-FAB FEATURE ON NEW MONTEASY SONG 'PRICE WENT UP'". Wrestletalk.com. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Brandy, Briana. "Barbie Barz X Hit Row 💕🅱️💅🏽🔝💵🅰️🅰️💕". Instagram.com. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- ^ Skudder, Jake. "WWE Superstars appear in Barbie-themed photoshoot ahead of movie's release". Fightfans.co.uk. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
- ^ Lara, James (6 March 2023). "WWE 2K23 Season Pass, DLC Wrestlers and Release Dates Revealed". Mp1st.com. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
External links
- B-Fab on WWE.com
- B-Fab at Cagematch.net
- B-Fab at IMDb.com
- Briana Brandy on Instagram
- Briana Brandy on Twitter