Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Bianca Belair: Injury Update, CRAZY Hair Whips, Naomi's Heel Turn, WrestleMania Magic, Montez Ford

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Get your tickets for INSIGHT LIVE in NYC with VIP Meet & Greet! Bianca Belair (@BiancaBelairWWE) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Los Angeles, CA to discuss her journey to WWE after being discovered by Mark Henry, becoming the EST of NXT and then WWE, the origin of the hair whip attack, her WrestleMania matches against Sasha Banks in 2021 and against Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY in 2025, the Scary Movie fight with Alexa Bliss, and more!   Quote I'm thinking about: "What we fear most is usually what we most need to do." - Tim Ferriss   Please support our sponsors!   PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux  SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Download the Rocket Money app and enter “Insight With Chris Van Vliet” in the survey   HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.comMIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.    Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet! Greetings and salutations, my friend. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for hit and play on this episode, and thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Lay your phone down on the ground right now and hit a 450 splash on that follow button on the podcast.

podcast app of your listening pleasure. If it's Spotify, could I ask you to take a few seconds to rate the show on there? And if you're listening on Apple, could you leave a review with just a few words or a few emojis? All of that would help so much. And as the show keeps getting bigger, the guests can keep getting bigger as well. Speaking of big guests, the next Insight Live is just a few days away. It's this Friday in New York City to kick off Summer Slam weekend. So if you live in the area, or if you're coming to town for SummerSlam, kick off the weekend with me and with special guest Seamus and all of the other real, real, real ones who will be there in the crowd, grab your tickets now at CVVTX.com. CvvvvTiX.com. Today, it is the first time we've ever had the EST of WWE on the show.

I'm pumped to have Bianca Bellaire in the studio. What a career she's had so far, and I feel like she's just getting started. She's the longest reigning raw women's champion of all time, 420 days. And her story is amazing. Her background is in track. And then after that, became a CrossFit competitor. Mark Henry just so happened to see a video of her competing in CrossFit, sent her a message on social media and said, you know what? You should try out for WWE. I feel like you'd be a great WWE superstar. And the rest, as they say, is history. And what's so amazing about her story is she wasn't a WWE fan growing up. So all of this, this entire world was new to her. And that means she became as good as she is now learning everything about the business

in just a few years. That is pure talent. And I loved this conversation. It was so great to be able to just pick her brain about everything and some of the amazing matches that she's been in. snap a screenshot and let us know that you're listening to this episode and tag us. She's at Bianca Belair, WWE. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome into the studio, Bianca Belair. I'm glad we finally made this happen.

Yes. We said we were going to make this happen and now it's happening. So thank you. Thank you for joining us in the studio. Thank you for having me. Someone asked me recently, what's your favorite match of 2025 so far? And it's your match. WrestleMania 41.

Triple threat. So good. Thank you. That might be one of the greatest triple threat matches in WrestleMania history. That makes me so happy to hear. It makes me so. I've actually only watched a match back once.

And it's only because my husband forced me to watch it. Because a lot of times if I have a really good match and it goes well and it goes great, I don't want to watch it back because I know I'm going to pick it apart. And so I was like, just give me a few days. Let me just live in the. the moment and let me just be happy about it. I don't want to watch it. He's like, you have to watch it. And so we were sitting at home, he put it on and I watched it. And I enjoyed it. I didn't pick it apart, but I'll probably never watch it again because it's just, it takes way too much out of me because

I get nervous when I watch it again. I feel all the emotions again. But you know, it's going to happen the second time around. I do. But it's just like by the end of watching, I just feel so exhausted. So I'm like, okay, one and done. And I'm happy with that. At what point in that match did you realize you guys had magic. I feel like, man, it was, I just feel like I was just such in the moment. I do feel like it was the moment with me and Ria where we're going back and forth with each other and like all the emotions from like the storyline that we had. I'm just like hitting her and telling her like, I belong here, you don't.

I work harder than you. And then it's like a moment in the match where like my. facial expressions. I'm just like looking at her and my hair's in my face. And that's when I knew, like, I could just feel the emotions and us going back and forth. And then once we got to the finish, I was excited for that. Because I was like, we got them. We got the crowd. We got them. They were just, there was something. There was something special about all of it. Like the build up to it, the match itself. And like you said, the way it ended. Yeah. It was just magic. What I love most about that match, and I've told them this too, is that sometimes you, when you're at

WrestleMania, you're planning a match, you think, like, it's WrestleMania. I have to go out there. We have to do this, die. We have to do that. We have to pull out these new moves. If you watch that match, none of us did anything that we don't normally do. And so I think we had the best of both worlds. You had everything that Ria does. You have everything that I do. You had the high-flying moves that EO has. We had moments in there. It was emotion in there. And we literally just went out there and did what we did and that was good enough and it ended up being great. And I love that because it's not always about the moves. It's really about the magic that you create in there and what you make people feel. How's your finger feeling? Um, this thing. Oh, it's still,

it kind of looks like a real finger again. It looks more like a real finger now. Wow. Um, it's still, so I have to wear my ring finger on my right hand now because my ring doesn't fit. It won't, it's healed. It won't fully straighten. And it won't. We've, Great respect. That's healed. Your knuckles so big right now. Yeah. I broke it in like two or three different spots. So I broke it up here in the middle and then down in the joint. That picture you posted, that video you posted when, like when you broke it was, that's crazy. It looks so gnarly. Yeah, they said like I had my finger had a kneecap. That's how that's what it looked like. It looked like E.T.'s finger. It didn't like E.T.'s finger. It was bad. It so it looks a lot better. It just still won't bend. It just still won't bend.

from the knuckle to the tip. So that's like that's as much as you can bend it right now? Yeah. And I think I'm more... Does it hurt? Only if I hit it and it crunches down or when I try to fully straighten it. Yeah, not so great when you need your hands to be a wrestler. Yeah.

Yeah. It's been a process, a process that I was not expecting. I've learned so much about fingers and how they're complicated and they have their own therapy and it's a thing. At what point in the match of this happened? So it was when we were doing like the triple German spot, when Eio was on the top rope, and then it was Ria, then it was me, and I came in German both of them off. And my hand got stuck underneath Ria. Also, I went to the wrong side of Ria.

But my hand, I thought she was going to go further over me, but we kind of just collapsed together. So when my hand went back, it got stuck under her. and she like literally crashed on my hand. And I knew immediately. Immediately I know it was broken. Because usually in the match, something happens and you don't feel it until after the match,

your adrenaline wears off. And you're like, ow, my finger. But in the moment, I was like, but I thought I broke all my fingers. So the ref, you can see the ref. If you watch you back,

the ref comes to me. He's like, are you okay? I'm like, I just broke all of my fingers. And you just see me like rolling around on the ground. and it took Ria to snap me out of the moment because I was just rolling around the ground and she's like, Bianca, Bianca, and I'm like, what?

Oh, we have to finish his match. How'd you finish? Honestly, after she snapped me back into it, I didn't feel it at all for the rest of the match. I didn't feel it until I got to the back. And I was like, oh, I broke my finger. And I didn't think it was that serious. There's something special about you at WrestleMania.

Like, you've had some amazing matches there. What did that one at WrestleMania 37 mean to you, winning the women's championship for the first time. Man, that was a crazy WrestleMania. For one, it was like my rookie year. You know, my rookie year and not only am I at WrestleMania, I'm main eventing

WrestleMania. It was a lot of pressure, but I was, Sasha took such good care of me. I felt so comfortable in the match with her, but that was a special one. You know, your main eventing also, too. We didn't know we were main eventing

until the day before, you kind of found out the same time as everybody else when it was announced on online. And then that day came and it was rain. It was like a storm. A storm happened and they had to post home. That's right. There was a rain delay. Yeah.

We didn't even know if we were going to be able to have WrestleMania that day. And then I remember before we went out, they were saying, well, if it lightens, you guys have to just stop. And then we'll... In the middle of the match. And then we'll bring you back. And then we'll come back in your phone. finish the match and we looked at each other and we're like, no, I don't know what to tell you up, we're not stopping. There's no way. There's no way you can stop that magic and restart it.

So thankfully it did it lighten, but it was raining. And it was the one match where I pressed Sasha and walked up the stairs. And I was so nervous about that because I was scared I was going to slip and fall. But that match was magic. And people don't even know that we had never touched before that match. We had never had a match together. We had never wrestled each other and literally watching that match as like bread and butter. Like everything went perfect. There's a moment after the match where you're celebrating and Montez comes in the ring. You look legitimately surprised.

Almost like, what are you doing here? Yeah. So I was celebrating the ring and the crowd got extra loud. I'm like, oh, yeah, they're really excited for me. Then I turn around. I just see him like full speed book and he like slides in the ring. I'm like, what is happening right now? So I was really surprised, but I'm so happy that they let him come down.

He said he was in guerrilla and they were saying, I think it was Hunter, it was the one that was like, go to the ring. He's like, me, yeah, go celebrate with her. And it was just the perfect moment ever to have him in the ring with me. My family was there. It was right after the pandemic. It was like a perfect moment. Yeah, how cool is it that you guys get to do this together?

It's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. I always say we're blessed to do, you know, what we love with the person that we love. And, you know, he's helped me so much because he grew up watching wrestling. I came in. I didn't know anything. I'm like, I don't know this business. I don't know anything. Like, who should I watch? And he's the first person that was like, okay, watch jazz. Watch Beth Phoenix. You know, everybody's like, start with the WrestleMania. Watch the WrestleMania. So I tried to do that.

But I'm like, WrestleMania is when like all the storylines happened before that. I'm watching this amazing match, but I don't know the history. I don't know anything. So he was the one who we watched WrestleMania. He's like, okay, this match is happening. And this is what the storyline was. And he's like a wrestling historian. And he's really the one that helped me with so much with the braid, with wrestling, with just everything. What was your knowledge of wrestling up to that point? I didn't know really anything. Like zero? Well, like, yeah, I didn't really watch wrestling growing up. My brother did. My brother loved wrestling. So I would see it a little bit. bit here and there with him.

Like I knew like, you know, the big household name, people that everyone knew, regardless of you're a wrestling fan, Stonecold, the Rob, the Undertaker. Attitude era. Yeah. So that was when I kind of watched it a little bit, but not much. So when I first got hired, I didn't know anything currently that was happening. I didn't know anything other than like the household names that everybody, that everybody knows. I didn't know the difference between a body slim and a suplex, a head lock, a wrist lock, nothing.

I didn't know anything. I was so green. And it's amazing to think that it didn't take you that long to figure it out and make it look like you've been doing it your whole life. Yeah. You took to it so fast. Yeah, like the athletic part very quickly. Like within like the first couple of weeks, I climbed to the top rope and was doing a 450. Like I was just a 450.

Because my gymnastics background, I'm like, oh, that's just like a somersault. You don't land on your feet. You just lay out. That's easy. You know, like I'm doing 450s before I even know how to do like holds and before I know how to do a headlock takeover. You know, it's so that part came very quickly to me. But it was the other parts that I had to really learn the psychology and the performance

and the history of it all. What was the dream growing up? Was it, was it track and feel? Yeah, track was my first love. I wanted to be an Olympic track athlete. And what was the event that you just crushed everybody at? I was a hurdler. I went 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles.

And was the goal? Like, I'm going to be in the Olympics one day? Yes. That was the goal. I grinded so much in high school. I was like, I won the scholarship. I want to go to college. I'm going to be an Olympian.

Like, that was my dream. I would wake up every single morning in high school. I would do a thousand abs every single day and 500 pushups every single. every single morning. So people thought I was lifting weights in high school. And it's like, no, I'm just, I'm training every, I was doing two days. Like, I wanted to be an Olympic, Olympic track athlete. So how does that then become, I'm in CrossFit and I'm doing great in CrossFit?

Yeah. So I ran track my whole life. Well, I kind of did almost every sport in the book. I also did gymnastics. but I ran track in college and the professional dream didn't work out. You know, I was like, okay, I've closed this chapter in my book. I'm ready to move on. And I was like, I've been an athlete my whole life.

And I don't know how not to be an athlete. So I needed to find an outlet for that. And my brother showed me a video, a cross-a-video. He's like, you could do this. You have, these women have muscles. You have muscles. You're like you're a well-round. athlete. And so I just remember watching those videos. I'm like, those women have the type of body

that I have. And they love their muscles and they're proud of their muscles. And they're doing amazing things with them. And I've always been a naturally muscular girl. And so I got into CrossFit and I loved it. And I realized I had been running track and playing sports and trying to grind so much that I was forgetting to have fun. And I beat myself up so bad about that. Like, You should have way much, way much more fun. So on CrossFit,

I was like, I'm just going to have fun. I'm going to, I'm going to wear a tutu. And so I was making tutus. I was wearing tutus.

I was wearing big bows in my hair. I was turning cartwheels and then like power cleaning and pressing. I was grabbing the microphone and talking to the audience. Like I was, people would come to the CrossFit events

to see what I was going to wear. I was like making these outfits. And I got a lot of people like brand deals that then got really like known in the CrossFit community. And so Mark Henry saw a video of me. I had this big bow in my hair and I'm talking to the audience.

He's like, hey, have you ever thought of being a wrestler? Like, no, not really, but I was why I've seen Total Divas and I joke with my mom like, maybe I'd be a wrestler, but it was just like, just through the thought out there. But Mark Henry's like, you're basically doing everything that a wrestler does. You're wearing wrestling year. You're wearing entrance pieces. You're grabbing the microphone. And so he's like, I can get you a tryout.

Can't get them to hire you. But just whatever you're doing, go do that at the tryout. And so I did two tryouts and they hired me. Do you think about what your life would look like if Mark Henry hadn't shot you that random message? Man, it would be, I don't know. And that's what's scary to me. And it's crazy. And I always tell, I talk to my mom about this.

I'm like, I had the thought of being a wrestler, right? And I just kind of threw it away. But I needed somebody else's validation or somebody else to like push me towards it. And especially a Hall of Famer. A Hall of Famer. Someone who's been there and done it. Yeah. Mark Henry is such a great eye for talent.

Like the list of people he's scattered is unbelievable. Yes. It's crazy. But for him to see something in you, I mean, that goes a long way. You have to go for it. And even if you didn't see that in you, when somebody else is already seeing it, so you're like, well, how can I not believe it now? Yeah, exactly. But it scares me to think that what if he didn't?

But I had that inkling. So sometimes that's a lesson to listen to your gut because sometimes you might not have that mark hearing in your life. You have to be your own Mark Henry. So go for something because you might miss out an opportunity if you're waiting for somebody else's validation. Thank God I had a Mark Henry to see that in me and push me to this. And look what wrestling has given you.

Everything. Look what WWE's giving you. Everything. Yeah. Yeah. a career. He's giving me a legacy. It brought me a whole husband.

A whole husband. You know, like, it's really changed my life. Yeah. What was the moment once you're in WWE where you feel like you leveled up? I feel like there's not like one particular moment. I feel like progressively there were just different, different just benchmarks and moments where, like, it changed the trajectory of everything. I think the May Young Classic was one. It was like one of my first times in front of a bigger audience.

Because I feel like the class I came in with, everybody was getting on TV way before me. And I kind of was just sitting back and like, when am I going to get on TV? And the May Young Classic, I feel like, was when I really got to showcase who I was. It was the match with Kyrie Seine. And that's when Hunter pulled me aside backstage. And he, like, in that moment backstage, like what he said. me. I always like keep it to myself. But that was when I was like, okay, I'm, I'm good at this. Like, I'm walking in my purpose. That was the first moment. I was like, this is what it feels like

to know your purpose. This is what it feels like to be walking in your purpose. And, you know, it was that moment. It was NXT takeover in New York. It was a fatal four-away with me, Shana, uh, Kyrie and Eio. And in my mind, like, these girls have, they're pros. They've been the Indies. They've been doing this. I'm the new girl. coming in. I was like, I have to hang with these girls. I have to, if I can hang with these girls, and I know that I can do this. And we had an amazing match, and I was like, I feel like we went out there and we killed it. I was able to hang with them. And the other moment for me is when I first got to the main roster. It was a match, I feel like during Christmas time. And it was,

I think it was Charlotte, me, Sasha, Carmela, Oscar, maybe. And the graphic came. And the came out, it was just a regular TV match, your graphic came out. And I looked at the graphic. And I was like, oh, I'm, I'm there. I'm there with these girls, these girls that when I was in NXT, I was watching them, like, make history and doing amazing things on the main roster. I'm in this match with them. So that was like a pivotal moment for me there, too. So it's just like little moments throughout like my career that made me feel like, you know, I'm where I'm supposed to be. You're wearing the EST necklace. Oh, yeah. When did that become, and how did that become your thing? Yeah, okay. So I was in NXT. I remember Mark Henry, he came down to the Performance Center and we were having to talk.

It was before I knew what I wanted to be. He's like, you know, asking me all these questions that I didn't really understand at the time. He's like, what do you want to be? What do you want to represent? Like, what do you want your character to be? I don't know. He's like, well, you need something that's, you know, when somebody,

sees you, they know exactly who you are and what you're about before you even open your mouth to talk, before you even do anything. Everything has to make sense from your gear to the way, you know, you present yourself to your wrestling moves. Everything has to make sense and it has to be simple enough to make sense. So I was like, well, I don't know because I feel like I'm not just one thing. I'm a lot of things. Like I'm not just someone who does strong, powerful moves. I'm not just strong and I'm not, but I'm the best at that. I'm the strongest, but I'm also this and I'm also this. And he's like, you have to simplify it. I'm like, how do I simplify this? Like, I'm, I'm just the best at everything. I can't just put myself in a box. Like, I'm the fastest. I'm the roughest. I'm

the toughest. I'm the quickest. I'm the greatest. I'm the best. Oh, wait. All those things in an EST. Oh, so I'm the EST of everything. So it really all just came together in this one promo that I had on a coconut show. I was just kind of rambling. and it all just came together and it stuck. And so I just became the EST of NXT. And now I'm the EST of WW. And how did your hair become so much a part of your gimmick? So I was, again, I was trying to figure out, like, what do I want to look like?

I want to have a unique look. And I was looking at all the girls that were there. They would wear their hair down. It was beautiful. And I was like, I want to wear my hair down. I want to feel beautiful. And like, I just loved how all the girls. girls were like glamorous.

But I wore a braid one time. And my husband, he was like, that's your thing. You have to stick with it. Was it as long as the braid you have now? Yep. It was as long as it was a little bit skinnier, but it was as long as the braid is now. He's like, you have to keep the braid. It's like, I don't know.

I feel like sometimes I feel like I look better with the long care. He's like, but everybody does that. He goes, the best way to stand out here is to do something that nobody else is doing. Look at what everybody else is doing. doing. And if that works for them, go the complete opposite way. He's like, the first time somebody comes to a show, they might not remember your name for the first time, but they'll remember the girl with the braid. And I was like, all right, I'm the girl with the braid. I can't believe how loud it is when you whip people with your hair. Yeah. A lot of people think I add special,

like they think that production adds a special effect to it. No. It's not a sound effect. No. No. And every time. time that I do it, it's loud. Like I thought Becky, I thought Sasha was the loudest. And then when I hit Becky, it surprises me. I'm like, oh, that, oh, that sounds like that hurt. Sorry, you know, every time it gets, it gets louder and louder. Like at WrestleMania 41, we're in a stadium. We're in a Legion stadium. And like, it echoes in the stadium. Like, what? Yeah. It's, it's not a special effect. It's a real thing. The welts that that leaves is crazy. So that's why I don't do it a lot, too.

For one, I don't want the audience to get used to it, too. I don't want to just mark up people every weekend. Yeah, like Becky had it all over. Yeah, and people thought that was makeup. No. That's my hair. Girl, put some cocoa butter on that. So I won't leave a scar.

And then the one on Ria's arm in the triple threat match? Yeah. I wonder about her tattoo. I'm like, I hope that heals. And usually if I get them across the stomach, it usually makes a louder noise, but I caught her on the arm and it still made a huge noise.

But, yeah, it's a whole, I have to braid it a certain way for it to make a noise, so sometimes I have to redo it over and over backstage. So what's the trick here? I can't tell you. Yeah, that someone else will do it.

But it's in the way that you braided? It's a special way that I braid it and I can whip it in the air. Like this one is, this is like my... Hey, keep that away. Keep that on that side of the table. This is my appearance once. He is not braided, so I won't make a moment.

But when I braid a certain way, if I can hear the way that it goes in the wind, I can tell if it's a hair whipped braid. I'm like, yep, that's it. We're good. That's so funny. The one you did to live Morgan in Elimination Chamber, that was wild. Yeah. Yeah, that was really, that was crazy because she was hanging off my braid from the pod.

And I'm thinking, oh, God, this hurts. Like, the middle of my head, the amount of times girls have pulled my hair, I really don't have a lot of hair in the middle of my head anymore. So, like, I'm ballheaded in the middle. But, yeah, she was hanging off the pod with my braid. And it's like, this is a great opportunity to hair whip her. And then you jumped off the pod. Jumped. And I, I'm a scarity cat, okay?

I don't. I am. I was like, if you go back and watch, you see me, like. hesitate. Yeah. I'm a scurdy cat. What's the most nervous you've ever been for a match? This is funny.

Well, it might not be funny. I actually get more nervous refereeing than wrestling. So when I was a special guest referee, when I was special guest referee for the Ria and Eo match, I would have rather done a wrestling main event than special guest referee. Why does that make you more nervous? Because I'm out of my element. You know, and two, it's so many things that you don't realize that referees do.

So when they're doing the championship introductions and I have to stand in the middle and hold the title up, I'm not, I'm usually the person that is on either side. So I'm like, oh, we didn't talk about this. Like, how do I do this? Do I grab the title? Do I hold it? Who do I give it to? And then the referee is such an invisible part of the match in a way. until it's not, until when it matters the most.

Like, a referee can really mess up a match. Sure. And if you don't get the three count right, and if you're in the way, when they're trying to do something in the corner, and I'm just like, and I also was doing stuff in the match, I was a part of it, and I was just like,

I, y'all, I am stressed. I am so stressed because I do not want to mess this match up, because, like, you're not in the match. And you're like, it's not my match. It's not my match, but I'm not in the match, but I am in the match. You know, you can mess up the finish. And generally speaking, if you notice the referee, something's wrong.

Yeah, exactly. So I'm like, this is nerve-wracking. You did great. Thank you. Thank you. I was like, I never want to do this again. And then I ended up having to do it again, evolution. But match-wise, I would say the most nervous that I've been is probably,

I was actually very calm before Restoanie, 37. We were very calm before this WrestleMania, I think, because we just trusted each other so much. It was one time, when was one time I was like I was going to throw up and cry? Probably elimination chambered this year. Yeah, I was very nervous for that.

Because it was a lot, a lot of moving parts. Jade coming back and the emotion from you was next level. And it's a thing, too, when you're in a match, when it's not just like about, and when it's not just your moment, when it's somebody else's moment and you have an active part in that,

that makes me more nervous than it just being about me because I want to make this moment great. I don't want to mess up somebody else's moment. And like my emotions was a huge part of that moment. And then you don't realize crying and screaming in that pod, how much it takes out of you. And my pod opened,

And I'm like, I'm exhausted. I start to do this whole match. You don't realize how much it takes out of you. Where did you go to access that emotion? Man. And I felt so visceral. Yeah, it's really, honestly, I just try to pull from just experiences that we had as tag team champions. Like, even with Naomi, like Naomi and I, we were always, you know, friends before we were.

a tag team. But when we got into a tag team, I feel like I just got so much more closer to her. Like, I've learned so much from her inside and outside of the ring. So it's like in my heart, like, that's my best friend, you know? And then me and Jade, we were able to be a tag team and be able to be tag team champions and like put the division on the map and do the things that we wanted to do. And just being in this position, I just, you know, try to see it as like, I'm literally watching my best friend, like, get beat up. And I just, and I just, just, you know, try to just hone into that and like this is this is awful you know that you have your two best friends fighting each other and I'd really just try to like I don't know just just tap into that

and just pull the realism out of it there were so many components of that segment that were so good like the look on alexus face where it's like oh all right and like jade going straight for Naomi and your reaction in the pod was like everyone just brought their A game to that yeah I mean that It's a real testament to like, everybody needs everybody. Like, nobody is bigger than anybody because even when you're champion, like, you need those opponents. In a story, you need people to help you tell this story. Like, everybody had an integral part in that.

Like, even like you said, Alexa's reaction, that added to, you know, her return, that added to the story that was happening. They went on to have an amazing WrestleMania match. But a lot of people were an integral part to get them to that match. in that story. So it's like everybody plays a role. And like you said, everybody brought their A game. So our roster is amazing.

And then that promo face to face with Naomi, like it was those same emotions, I think, even stepped up even more. Yeah, we, we have amazing, I think, amazing chemistry. Like I can just, I can look at Naomi and it just felt so emotional. For one, when we were a tag team and us not being able to have like that long run, like when I was in NXT, Naomi was on the main roster pitching for us to be a tag team from the very beginning. And we've like that was something that was always wanted and we finally got to have it and then it was like cut short. So that was emotional for me too.

And then, you know, just the realism and her promo and us being able to just hone in and click. And before we did that promo, Hunter came up to us. he said, hey, when you guys are in there, this is just a conversation between you two and just look at it that way. So I think for us, we wanted it to be something where everybody felt like they were listening to a conversation that they really weren't supposed to be listening to. Like a lot of times you do promos and you're kind of talking to the crowd and you open up to the crowd.

Never once we were just, it was just me and her locked in. and it's it really felt like you were watching a conversation and listened to a conversation you weren't supposed to be listening to. We were able to just lock in together and bring that emotion. A lot of it was real. Yeah. Were there things there where you're like, I'm going to touch on this thing.

You okay with that? I feel like we were just very comfortable with each other. Like we, I think a lot of that promo too, It wasn't about what we said. It was how we said it. And just the cracking of the voices and just really, we really just want to tap into really emotions. And, you know, it wasn't anything that was like a touchy subject at all. Your friendship goes way back with Naomi.

There's a moment in the Royal Rumble I've always wanted to ask you about. So Jordan Grace hits you from behind into Naomi. And then you just burst out laughing. What happened? Because I was getting motorboated in front of like thousands of people and I'm like, how did we get here? You know?

I didn't know that's what it was. It wasn't supposed to happen. Like, I mean, you know, the warrior rumble is like until your spot's going to happen, you're kind of just, you know, keeping busy and trying to eliminate each other. Like, and so Jordan, she just pushes me. I didn't know Naomi was even sitting down in the

corner. So, like, I eat the buck when I kind of crumble and I end up, like, straddling Naomi. And I think that's the end of it. And I just feel like, like, somebody's just like pushing me. I'm like, how did we get here? What is this? We look crazy right now. And I broke character. I laughed and I tried to cover my face, but it went viral. I'm like, we look crazy right now. But it's such a fun moment. It was so, yeah, like dying. It was so many moments where I'm like, what is that? speaking of fun moments how did you put this thing together with Alexa to

copy this scary movie three fight I still get tagging at all the time all the time um you know we were having our match and at the time her character and my character it really resembled like Regina Hall and

like the two characters in scary movie did you figure that out I forgot who figured it out. I can't remember exactly like who came up with it, but it started out as a joke. And then we were like, wait, we could do this. We totally could do this.

So we didn't know, we really didn't even know if anybody would catch onto it. And right away, people caught onto it right away. So how many times did you watch that scene to figure out, it's this, followed by this? We literally were like, okay, so drop kick and, okay, so. Do you still know this whole sequence? I just

So the part that I Yeah I remember like Taking off the earrings And come on let's go And she rises up And then it's like the The punch kick And then I try to kick she ducks

And drop kicks me I go through the ropes And like I was like The ropes can be the couch And I go over Yeah it was We had so much fun with that And then everybody like literally

Picked up on it And still to this day I get tagged Did they figure it out like Immediately right after the match? Online they did Yeah I mean online they're undefeited it. They're undefeated.

And that's, I wonder if that's just one huge scary movie 3 fan that was like, wait a second. And then they're, oh, they do this next thing, it's definitely, it's not a coincidence. Yeah, I heard they're doing a new scary movie, we're like, me, Lexer like, Paulus.

Let us be a part of it. It would make a lot of sense. Yeah. It's just such a fun Easter egg, though. Yeah, but that's what's cool. Like, wrestling, it's, you never know what you're going to get, and you It's the best of all worlds. It's serious, but you still can throw a little Easter egg fun things in there.

Sports entertainment. So I love the entertainment aspect of it. Since you make all of your gear, which is crazy and that's amazing. Thank you. What's been your favorite one so far? That's so hard. Okay. It's hard because for my big matches, I only wear those gears once.

Yeah. So every time I look at the gear, it brings me back all those emotions, those memories. So everyone has significance to it. So it's hard to say because it's tied to that moment. So like, WrestleMania 37. When I look at that gear, I think of many vending WrestleMania. So it's automatically one of my favorites. Probably WrestleMania 38th with Becky.

That was one of my first times really going outside of my comfort zone. So I always wore the same style. And I could bust those gears out very quickly. That was my very first time trying something new. And ever since I did that year, I've been trying new things getting better and better. So I love that gear. I love takeover Portland gear for Black History Month with the Big Cape. But recently my gears, recently I've been loving my gears.

I think my top, top, top gear has to be from this year's WrestleMania, the Rose Gear. It was really good. The Rose Gear. I surprised myself with that one. Yeah, I just kept building on it and building on it. And then when it was finished, I was just like, beautiful. Where do you get your inspiration? Like, and you've made so much gear, how do you keep coming up with new ideas?

Usually, like, a lot of times I used to go with the theme of the PLEs, but I feel like a lot of people are doing that now, so I get scared of, like, looking the same. So I've been kind of shying away from that. But I always try to just have some type of significance or tie it into something like, Elimination Chamber. We went with a Beyonce like cosplay, cowboy type of gear.

But for WrestleMania, my inspiration kind of came from like getting my flowers. I was like, like I've put in so much hard work. This is like I'm going to get my flowers. I'm going to get my flowers and take my flowers. Also, my very first

promo I ever did in NXT and my NXT try out, I wore a flower gear that I made to do cross, that made, and did crossfit in. And so I still had that very, it was awful promo, by the way. Remember what you said in it? I think I called myself Binky the Beast and I'm the beauty

that Beast. Like, I didn't know how to cut a promo. They were like, cut a promo. Like, what is a promo? So, you know, but I wore this rose outfits. So I feel like, too, was showing, like, how much I've grown and evolved and try to like tie that into everything, into my gear. With everything that's happened since your WWE tryout,

signing the contract, and everything since, have you had a moment where you've been able to just pick half a step back and go look where I'm at and look what I've accomplished? It's hard because WWE everything kind of blurs together. You know. Yeah, and your go, go, go, go. Ever since the pandemic, I think, I've been on, I've been on every single live event, almost every TV.

There's one point in time I was on every single PLE. You kind of just go on autopilot. And it really takes someone. My husband is very good at saying like, hey, you need to slow down. Or when I get home, he celebrates everything that I do. He really helps me with that. But I really feel like this time off, honestly, I've really been able to like look.

look back and be like, whoa, that's, you've done a lot of things in a very short amount of time. I've really been able to just reflect and, you know, I go through my camera roll. I'm like, oh, I did that. I did that. We did this. We went here. We went there. It's like, wow.

That's, it's a blessing. Before this injury, what do you think the longest stretch of time you were at home was? The longest stretch of time I was home? No, definitely not a week. It was never a seven-day period where I was home. home. Maybe the most I would be home would be like on a lucky week, three days at home, collect like consistently, like consecutively.

But there was a time like when I was champion and we were filming the reality show that I didn't have a day off for like six, six months. Yeah, because we would film the reality show Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Thursday morning, fly and then fly out Thursday, do Smackdown Friday, Live event, Saturday, live event Sunday, fly back home Monday, and then film. And that was, and then

if we weren't filming, we were doing appearances and then flying back. So it was like six months of no days off. But then you got to have a reminder in the back of your head going, all the things I dreamed for, all the things I wanted. It's happening right now. Yeah. Yeah. You have to remember, like, this version of yourself

is what you prayed for years ago. Yeah. Like in NXT, this is what I wanted. Also, so I never would have imagined that it would be like this and this much success and this, the amazing things that I've been able to do myself and with my husband. And my first step of my passport was an NXT. We went to the UK. And now I have a million stamps of my passport.

You know, we've been to Australia. We've been to Japan. We've been to everywhere in the UK. I mean, endless places. Who have you not worked one-on-one yet? I have not worked one-on-one, Naomi. Well, that seems like one that needs to happen. Yeah, I haven't.

She has a championship. And no, we've never done one-on-one at all. I don't think we've ever even done like a tag match against each other. Raquel on the main roster. Have you worked Rhea one-on-one? I've only worked Rio one-on-one in NXT twice. We had one in the NXT matches. We had takeover Portland.

Other than that, we had, we were the final two for the Warrior Rumble. She had a gauntlet match. I was the last one she wrestled in the gauntlet match. But a one-on-one match on May roster, no. Sounds like we've got a list of opponents for when you're ready to come back. Yeah, I think we have a huge list of opponents. Really, anybody. It's a lot that could happen.

I haven't had a big storyline or one-on-one with Charlotte, with Naomi, with Jade. I've done one-on-ones with Live, but it hasn't been like a big feudal storyline with Liv. Raquel. It's a lot. And then all the new girls that are coming in, it's like the possibilities are endless.

It's exciting. When you were filming the reality show, was there like a certain line you guys wouldn't cross? You know, you're opening your life up, your house up, your home up to, like, cameras are going to come in. Yeah. Did you have a line where you're like, you can film up to this much, but that's it? I feel like I had a lot of boundaries.

That's probably a good thing. Because even when they presented us with the idea, I was like, listen, I love reality TV. It's my guilty pleasure to watch. I love watching the entertainment. I just don't know if I want to be the entertainment on reality TV, you know? And I was like, I don't know. I don't know if I had the personality for it. My husband, he's wild.

he's crazy in the ring. He's the same way at home. He has the personality. Ah. But, you know, we, we sat down and we're like, listen, we're not trying to be perfect. We're just trying to be real. But at the same time, like, we are opening our doors. But there are like just certain things that are sacred, you know, but we were never pushed too far. Like, we had a great experience for the most part. You know, our only thing was we just didn't want to do anything that wasn't real or we didn't want to do anything that we wouldn't do. Like there were times where, like, what if we do this? What if you say this?

And I'm like, I would never say that. We would never do that. Well, it's just for entertainment. I don't care. This is reality TV. This is my marriage. Like, if it's not enough drama to get a second season, then it's not enough drama. I don't know what to tell you, you know?

So we were, we were just very big on not doing anything that we wouldn't do or causing fake drama. Because then, I mean, that leads to real drama. You know? When Montez has a match or street profits have a match, where are you typically watching this from? Usually I'm in Gorilla, watching it backstage on the monitor, but he scares me. Because I never know what he's going to do. That's what makes him so great. But he just like, I just get, like, my underarms start sweating when I'm watching him.

And like, he's either, like, elimination chamber. He's falling from the top of the cage. And he doesn't tell me what he's doing. because usually I'm the one to try to talk him out of it. He's jumping from the rope to the ladders or he's grabbing a prosthetic leg. Like he never ceases to amaze me. And like I'm so jealous of him of the way he's just able to just do things. And he's always, I think that's why he's so fun to watch.

But for me, it's like, I don't like that. What is he doing now? So I'm usually backstage watching. Don't you feel like every time he goes up for a frog splash, he somehow gets higher every time? Yeah. You know, he's scared of heights. He's scared of heights. You ask him yourself, but every time he climbs to the top rope, he's scared.

Because I always make fun of him because he takes forever. Like most people, they put their foot on the second rope and then they go straight to the top. He goes, it's like right left. He's like, bottom, bottom, middle, middle, top, top, and then he's up. I'm like, why are you taking so many steps? Just take one step and get up. He's like, I'm scared. But, yeah, I think his goal is to get out of the frame.

Oh, like they didn't zoom out far enough. Yeah, he's like, he wants to be king of the frog splash. He wants the best frog splash in the business. Like, nobody can top him. And nobody can. He has the best frog splash. What's your favorite Montez match or street profits match? Oh, favorite Montez match would be definitely elimination chamber.

He was the star. He did steal the show. He stole the show. listen. If anybody was saying the name after elimination chamber, it was Montes for it. Okay. He was the star of that match. He scared me.

Yeah. But he, that was like the breakout. I think that was like them spoon feeding. If he goes singles, that's what you're going to get. And that was only like the beginning. Tag match, I would have to say, definitely this, the latter match that they just had. because the TLC match yeah the TLC match um yeah that was that was crazy and I tease him all the time

I'm like everybody said that we had the best match of the week of the weekend and you guys were like hold my drink all right and I was like dang we did have the best match of the weekend now y'all trying to give us a run for our money but that match was amazing and then they had a match at money the bank with the Uso's. That was amazing. Love how proud you guys are of each other. Oh, yeah. Amazing.

Yeah, he's the man. It's so cool just that both of you guys are just each other's cheerleader. Yeah, he's definitely my biggest cheerleader. And I think he's, I think that he doesn't even, like people say he has so much potential. He does have potential, but it's there. Like, it's potential, but it's just, it's only potential because he hasn't gotten that, opportunity yet. And that's all he needs.

He needs the opportunity and it's going to come. And I can't wait until it comes because he's going to blow up. And I can't wait to see him like face of the company one day and it's going to happen. He has he has everything. He has everything that that a superstar needs. I love that. Yeah. Thank you for making this happen.

I'm going to end this with a question. I ask everybody. Because gratitude is such a huge part of my life. My wife and I say three things we're grateful for before we go to bed every night. We do it every morning when we wake up. Just kind of like, you know, if you can focus on the things that you have, it's the things you don't have. It changes your whole perception. So, Bianca, what are three things that you're grateful for right now? I am grateful for my family. I'm grateful for good health and that everybody in my family is in good health. So family, good health,

and I'm grateful for, uh, just, I don't even know what word to use for this. this. The fact that I have like my career in my well-being, like I have, I can take care of my family and we're fine and everybody doesn't have, everybody just has wants. They don't have any needs because we can take care of those needs. So those are things that I'm grateful for. Thank you again. Thank you. You're awesome. Can't wait to see you back in the ring. Thank you. I can't wait to be back. There we go.

Thank you for listening to this episode with the EST of WWE, Bianca Bel Air. She's featured quite a bit in WWE Unreal, which just started streaming on Netflix today. Man, it's so good. So good. Not just as a wrestling fan, you're going to appreciate this. This is just a fantastic in-depth docu-series. And it's great to see this another layer of all of these superstars that we see. see you in the ring. I loved it. So go check that out now, streaming on Netflix. Snap a screenshot

and tag us. Let us know what you thought of this episode. She's at Bianca Bel Air, WWE. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and we'll wrap this up with a quote from Tim Ferriss. What we fear most is usually what we most need to do. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Zelina Vega joining us on Thursday. We'll see you right back here for that one. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom.

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