Friday was a big night for Bianca Belair, who took on Carmella, who challenged her for the title — and won during the SmackDown event.
But after her defeat, Carmella complained that she did not have enough time to prepare for the match. Belair did not break a sweat in her post-match interview and agreed to a rematch next Friday to defend her title for the second week in a row.
“Typical Carmella, like you [interviewer Kayla Braxton] said. “She had six days to prepare. People love going on Twitter talking about how they’re not bothered when they are, which is fine,” Belair said in her post-match interview. “She got in the ring with me tonight, so all I can say is I’m a fighting champion and I don’t back down from anything. She wants a rematch? Let’s do it again next week. I’m all for it. Let’s do it.”
This Friday, Belair was actually supposed to defend her title against Bayley at WWE Money in the Bank on July 18. But Bayley was forced to tap out after suffering a serious injury while training last week. She’ll be watching from the comfort of her home for at least nine months.
Carmella will have her work cut out for her once again. Belair’s wins are no fluke.
The former track and field star, CrossFit competitor and powerlifter is also the second Black WWE to win the Women’s Royal Rumble. She is also the reason that WWE champion Sasha Banks took a length hiatus after being beaten by Belair at the latest WrestleMania.
“When I was in the ring last night, it kind of hit me in two different stages: When I won, I was in a moment of everything just slowed down, and the realization of, “I just won the entire Royal Rumble, 30 women in the ring and I’m the last one standing,” that moment hit me up like, “Oh my god, I just won the Royal Rumble and I’m celebrating that,” she told Complex of her epic Royal Rumble win.
“And then looking over and seeing the WrestleMania sign, it hit me like a couple of seconds later I was like, “Oh, wait, you’re going to WrestleMania,” it hit me at two different times and it was like a wave of emotions. And so just, the fact that it just hit me at two different times, I’m just living in the moment of winning the Royal Rumble and just trying to figure out my emotions right now and trying to not cry every five seconds. So I feel like I don’t want to make an emotional decision right now. I’m just trying to like get my emotions in check and weigh my options and then go from there.”
