Belair stated that she almost didn’t join the company.
As WWE WrestleMania 40 inches closer, talents in the company are making the media rounds to promote the upcoming event and continuing their media tour were Bianca Belair and Montez Ford.
They were welcomed onto the Pivot Podcast. Belair looked back on initially not knowing what she was getting herself into when the opportunity with WWE came about and said she almost didn’t take the opportunity.
My next biggest pivot was coming to WWE because it scared me and I almost didn’t come. I wasn’t sure if it was a secure decision for me. It was so unpredictable…
A focal point in the overall conversation became representation in wrestling and representation of Black women. Belair said there was that strong image of herself, Naomi and Mercedes Moné. She saw it becoming something big and then added that it was just gone.
Belair felt she was left alone and had to be that sole representation and she did not want there to just be one representative. She stated that with Naomi being back and Jade Cargill coming into the fold, things are back on the right path.
What I will say is we were at a point where it was all three of us (Belair, Naomi & Mercedes Moné) and I just saw it becoming something so huge where we were all champions and I saw it as, this is the first time where I feel like it’s not just one of us, it’s three of us and now when people think about the women’s division, they’re gonna think about three Black women. The first women that they think of when they think of WWE women is going to be three Black women and I just saw it being something huge and monumental and then it all kind of went away and I was the only one, and some people wanna be the only one but I felt like I was left by myself to do it by myself and it’s a lot of responsibility and so now where we have Jade Cargill coming in and you have Naomi that’s come back and I feel like we’re back on the right track. Representation is so important, but when you only see one, it’s cool, it’s good because you see one, you’re like, oh, I know that that’s possible. But when you see one, to me it’s like, it makes it seem like it’s an anomaly. Like, you have to be lucky. That lucky one gets into it. I remember being a little girl and I knew I wanted to perform and I couldn’t sing, I tried to sing. But I knew I couldn’t be a singer so I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I can be an actress’ but, the one, real Black female actress that I always saw was Halle Berry, and I know it was possible but it was like, oh! But it’s only one that I really see so it seems like you have to be that lucky one so it’s very important that you have more than one.
The trio of Cargill, Belair and Naomi are scheduled to team up on night one of WrestleMania 40. They’ll be taking on Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane & Asuka).
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the Pivot Podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
