Bianca Belair has had a phenomenal year with World Wrestling Entertainment.
This year, she blew minds when she won the Royal Rumble. She then made history when she and Sasha Banks became the first two Black women to participate in the WWE’s legendary WrestleMania event.
Belair took the title, winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship, nabbing an ESPY Award for Best WWE Moment. And if that wasn’t enough, two months ago, she was ranked the No. 1 female wrestler by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
And as for her immaculate style in the ring, Belair says it’s all down to one person—her.
“I make everything that I wear in the ring,” she told The Post Dispatch. “I call myself the EST, and I always say, ‘Can’t nobody do it like me or better than me,” so I’m very particular about my gear. I’m only satisfied if I get to do it myself. I want to throw everything I have into what I do. I believe in working hard inside and outside the ring. And it’s even cooler when my action figures come out and it’s the gear that I made, or the video game, and it’s me, but it’s also the gear that I made. And for my big moments, I try to make gear that I’ll never wear again, so every time I look at that gear, it takes me back to that moment.”
Belair and Banks for the Crown Jewel triple-threat match with Becky Lynch in Saudi Arabia last month. Fans were staggered after witnessing Belair lift Banks in the air and raise her above her head with just one hand.
“That moment was to represent women,” Belair tells Sports Illustrated. “We’re just as great as the men. I wanted little girls in Saudi Arabia to see that, and I wanted boys all over the world to see women from that perspective.”
