 Can you explain the concept for everyone of EST? EST, so EST, I call myself the EST of WWE. That means that I am the strong Est, the fast Est, the roughest, the toughest, the quickest, the greatest, the best, the best EST. Anything good that ends in EST, that's what I am. And I'm all about striving to be the best version of myself. So that's where EST comes from. All right, we're gonna jump right in. Can you tell me how the world went in 2021, 2022? WrestleMania, SmackDown champion, Royal Rumble, you're gonna head back to WrestleMania. I mean, how have you handled all of this? You know, being in WWE, everything comes so fast, and you never know when it comes. My model is stay ready so you don't have to get ready, because you never know when your opportunity comes. My opportunity came out of nowhere last year, winning the Royal Rumble, then going to main event WrestleMania with Sasha Banks, being the first two Black females to ever main event WrestleMania, walking out of SmackDown as champion. Like you said, winning Survivor Series, and winning Elimination Chamber, and now I'm going into WrestleMania 38 with another opportunity to become champion again. Again, by facing Becky Lynch, I'm going for the Royal Miss Championship. So it's been a whirlwind, but I'm taking it as it comes, and I'm just capitalizing off all these opportunities. And I love the way that you're soaking it in as well. I was reliving the clips of you at WrestleMania, all female African-American main event at WrestleMania, and we saw the emotions before the match got started. Can you just take us through your emotions that day? Yeah, that day, just being one of the women alongside with Sasha Banks, main event in WrestleMania, unprecedented moment, first time the two Black females are main event in WrestleMania. You talk about getting to the main event of WrestleMania. You talk about just getting to WrestleMania, and all of a sudden we were there. And anytime that anyone gives you advice about WrestleMania, number one thing they always say is, just slow down and soak it in because you just soak it in. And so I'm so glad that we took that moment in the beginning, and without us even having to open our mouths or touch each other, just standing there in that moment, it was so powerful. And you see it in my face. If you go and you watch that, the first 30 seconds of the match of us just standing there, I almost lost it. I was in tears before the match even started because the moment was so powerful. And to know that all the women that came before us, they laid that foundation for us to be able to walk through those doors and for Sasha Banks not to be in that moment and make history. And that moment was bigger than me. It was bigger than Sasha. It was bigger than women winning the Smackdown match championship. It was just a huge moment, and it's going to inspire people now and in the future. And we even won an SP off of that match, that moment. So it was everything. That's mind blowing, winning an SP off of that. And you were just doing a great job of highlighting it right there. What does representation mean to you? When you think about your journey and what you now represent, what does representation mean to you? Yeah, you know, I always say, I always use the quote, representation is not a request, it's a requirement. It really is. You know, I think about the role models that were representation for me growing up and how they changed the whole trajectory of my life, like I am where I am now because of them, because they showed me what was possible for me. And I always force to that if you want to do something and you don't see someone doing that, you become that person so that other people can walk through the door that you open that you create. You know, representation, it really just shows people, you know, you're able to look at someone that looks like you and see them doing these things. And it really gives you this example, this idea of where you fit in society, where you fit in the world. It shows you the limits or the glass lens that you can break. It really is an example of the things that you can do and how you're presented and where you're placed in this society. So I think representation is important in all areas, right, because there should be diversity and equity everywhere. So for me, representation, I just want to represent for women, for women of color. For any people that don't look like me, I just want to represent if you've been in a situation that I've been in, you know, I dealt with depression and anxiety. That's representation there showing that you don't always start from the top. You start, sometimes you start from the bottom, the middle, no matter where you start from, you can succeed into whatever it is that you want to do. Maybe you're crushing it and inspiring so different people. Well, let's talk about music for a moment. I love music, talk music on the show. And it's a part of somebody's people's lives no matter what you do. But I love talking about it with athletes and guys and gals before a big event, game, match, whatever it may be, listening to something to pump them up or smooth things out. So I'm curious, what's on your playlist? My playlist is so, I guess diverse, but I'm a huge J. Cole fan. I mean, I mean, my finish is called the K of D, which is one of my favorite songs from J. Cole or No World Models or Love Yours. I'm a huge Beyonce fan. School in life, they just get like, that's like one of the best songs to work out to. I'm a huge Megan Stallion fan. I also listen to gospel music like Kurt Franklin. Like that just gets me so pumped up for just workouts. Like I listen to gospel music a lot, perfect a lot when I'm working out because I'd be going through it. And I'd be like, I need something to push me through. Just keep me in a good mood. So those are really like my main go-tos for working out. And before I go out there and I compete. You got something for every move. I love Kara Wack too. So I mean, just like everywhere. I've been on a big J. Cole mode for about a month now. So I've been rocking a lot. Let's do a lot of J. Cole. And it's funny, the connection and the crossover between hip hop and WWE. We've seen Snoop make numerous WWE appearances. You performed that rolling loud. Like what do you think about this connection between hip hop and WWE? Music is such a huge part of WWE. Even from my interest in music and our theme music, that's the first thing that people, they hear our music before they even see us. But you know, it's always been like you said that the integration of music, especially the hip hop world and industry with WWE, like you said Snoop Dogg, P Diddy. We just had Migos at day one in Atlanta that actually they were out there with my husband who's one half of the street profits when they were facing R.K. Bro. I got to meet Meg Dostalion last year. We went to rolling loud. So it's always been a huge part of WWE. But for me specifically, rap and hip hop, that's been a part of my life since I was born. Like I was born into, you know, it's part of my culture. And that's what we listen to in my community. So to have both of my worlds now colliding together even more and integrating more, it means everything to me. And it's really cool, you know, going to rolling loud, my husband and I, we were actually looking to try to go to rolling loud. And then we found out, wait, you're not just going, you're performing on the same stage as some of your favorite artists. So it was, it was real dope. And I just hope we can keep doing more collaboration because anytime that both of my worlds collide, I feel right at home no matter what I'm doing. So it's cool. Now you've shown like amazing impressions. Yes, indeed. Feets of athleticism in the ring. And we know the fans love it. But I'm just curious, what's the reaction to the locker room? There's someone below. You know, what's amazing about, especially the women's locker room at WWE. I love our locker room is full of so much talent. And it's like, it's just the true definition of women empowerment. So whenever I'm out there pressing girls over my head, one arm pressing girls or picking up Otis, who's the 300, 400 pound guy on the roster, they're always cheering when I come backstage. And they're very encouraging. I even bring up, we were in Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel. And I usually do a two arm press to girls. And it was a moment where I was like, okay, maybe I could do this one arm press, but I'm really nervous about doing it. And Sasha Banks was the main person was like, uh-uh. No, if you don't do the one arm press, then just don't do it. Like, no, go do it. Like they are, they're so encouraging. But also I feel like I dig myself in a hole too, because now I feel like I do so many like feats of strength that they think I can do everything. Sometimes it's like certain ideas. I'm like, okay, y'all think I'm somebody I'm not. I can't do that now. But it's cool how they have like so much faith in me. Of faith in you. Now the long braid, we see the long braid there. It's for the staple of your character. Since you entered WWE, you used it as a weapon. We've seen numerous times and it's been used against you. What made you, how the idea come about that the braid, your hair, using your hair as a part of your persona? Yeah, so at first it was just something that was a signature look. It made me stand out. My husband was one of the main people who is Montez Ford. He's one half the attack team, street profits. He was one of the main people that was like, no, you need to wear the braid because it makes you stand out. And that's what makes you unique. And he was like, if anybody comes to a show for the first time, even if they don't remember your name, they're going to remember the girl with the braid. So that's the best way to stand out and be unique. So it just started out as a signature look. But then the first thing that girls would want to do in the ring was pull my hair and touch my hair. And I'm just like, don't touch my hair. Like that's my rule. So I was like, I have to do something to get them to stop going to my hair. And so in a match, I threw it at a girl, a hitter, it made this huge noise. The crowd went crazy and it took her down. I was able to capitalize off of it. So that was when I first learned that I could use it. So I do use my hair as a weapon, but only when it's absolutely necessary, when they don't follow my rule, which is do not touch my hair. Solange knows right there. Solange, let's go back in time for a minute, Bianca. Obviously very athletic. Give us the background on where things started from you and as an athlete and how that led you to WWE. Yeah, my journey to WWE is a little unique. I did not watch wrestling a whole lot growing up. I wasn't a kid that was striving to be a WWE superstar one day. I was the little girl who was climbing trees in her front yard. So my mom and my daddy put me in gymnastics and tracking every sport in the book because I was just very active. I started running track at the age of five, gymnastics at the age of five and then played basketball cheerleading. But my main sport was track and field. I went and ran collegiate track and field at University of South Carolina, Texas A&M, and then University of Tennessee. So I went all over the place, but I was an all SEC hurdler. And then after track, I really had been an athlete my whole life. So I missed that competitive atmosphere. And so I found CrossFit and that's when I really, sorry, like lifting weights and really embracing my muscles and really falling in love with my body. And during CrossFit, I would wear like these big bows and tutus and sequence outfits. And I made my own outfits, so I really stood out and I would grab the microphone and talk to the audience. So Mark Henry, who's a Hall of Famer, he saw a video of me and he's like, hey, have you ever thought of being a WWE superstar because you have the athleticism, you have the look, light talking in front of people and you're basically wearing wrestling gear and you don't even know it. And so he said he can get me a tryout, but he couldn't get them to hire me. It took me two tryouts and I started in WWE in 2016 and it's just crazy because I never imagined myself being a WWE superstar, but now I can't imagine myself doing anything other than what I'm doing now. And I feel like I was born to do this. I'm walking in my purpose. So it's an amazing feeling when you feel like you're, you finally found your purpose and you're doing it. And that's what I'm doing right now. That's unbelievable. Did you think it was a joke when Mark Henry brings up, you're like, hey, should be a WWE? Well, for one, I thought it was a fake account when Mark Henry started commenting on my photos and was popping up in my DMs. And I was like, that's fake. And my nephew was the one that was like, yo, Mark Henry just commented on your page. I'm like, it's fake. And then I went and researched and I was like, oh, wait, no, this is Mark Henry. What are you saying? And in my DMs, he was just saying, you know, he saw a video of me, he had faith in me and he wanted to give me a tryout. So once I realized it was the real Mark Henry, I was like, okay, this is the real deal. I love it. All right, on a serious note, I think this is important. You've been very open about mental health and about eating disorder previous to your time at WWE and revealing that part of yourself. Why did you feel like that was important? You know, I was doing my WWE Chronicle and I was just talking about my life and my childhood and things I've been through. And I just felt like it wasn't telling my truth if I left that part out because that's a part of who I am, especially right now. And I will say, and in the moment when I was going through it, yes, I felt very embarrassed and vulnerable and would not have shared it then. But I felt like, okay, I'm not going through this anymore. I've gone through it. So I need to share this. And I know what it felt like in that moment to feel alone and feel misunderstood. And so I just, I felt like I owed it to my younger self and I owed it to the people that were going through it as well to share that and to help anybody else that was going through it and to kind of just normalize talking about it and then not being this high stress situation of feeling like you have to open up and just, I just wanted to be comfortable with it. Look, I'm talking about it and it's fine to talk about it because you have to talk about it first and be vulnerable before you can get help. And so that was really just the reason why I just opened up about it and felt more comfortable doing it since I had, you know, I'm still going through this. It's a journey. You know, I just know my trigger is I'm able to manage it better and but it was really just about, I feel like I owed it to my younger self and to my parents and the people that helped me through it and to the people that are going through it now as well. Inspiring a lot of people. How, real quick, how therapeutic was that for you? It was so therapeutic. Just being able to just open up and talk about it and be vulnerable all over again. I feel like in that moment, you know, going through it, I learned so much about myself but in the moment of opening up and talking about it, I learned even more about myself and I evolved and grew even more by just opening up. And it just felt like this huge weight off of my shoulders of just being open and honest and vulnerable. And I'm always in the ring talking about being unapologetically me and presenting myself as a whole. So I felt like I can't preach this in the ring and not do it outside the ring. So this is me. I'm being unapologetically me. This is a part of my story and I'm going to be comfortable with that. A switch gears for a moment now. You mentioned a few times Montez for your husband. Tell me the first day you two met. We actually, my husband, we actually met in NXT in WWE. I remember I saw him for a brief moment when I first got there. And then I didn't see him again for another three months. And it was actually a dinner that one of the girls that we worked with, she got a dinner together because so everybody can come and meet each other and he walked through the door. And my friend sitting next to me, I was like, that is a beautiful man. Away from me. But no, I went after him. I went after him and it was just like lust at first sight. And ever since that night, we've been inseparable and all of a sudden we were moving in together and we moved in together. We were like, did we talk about this? Nope. Okay. Now we're engaged and a year later we were married. How cool is it working together? It's cool. You know, I always say, I'm blessed to do what I love with the person I love. You know, we live together. We work together. We travel together. People that we work with say that we're obsessed with each other, which I mean, it is what it is. Like that's my homie, my lover, my best friend. It's really cool. You know, we get to share these great moments together, celebrate these great moments together. And then when we're going through things, we get to share those moments with each other and we understand it. So I think it's very beneficial. I couldn't imagine my life any other way. I mean, I'm just blessed. WWE brought me a whole career in a husband. So, so much happiness. So much, so much. Now, you mentioned this journey of yours, which is, I mean, I'm sure it's been a while to keep up with your friends, while to keep up with them doing this and how amazing it is. How supportive have your parents been in this journey? We saw the social media reactions to the Royal Rumble. Listen, my parents, I think I have the goat family. My parents have not missed a track meet, basketball game, band recital, ballet recital for the two weeks that I did it. Soccer, meet, game, they haven't missed anything. And they have kept that same energy even when I became an adult. They are there every step of the way. They're watching everything that I do. They become my biggest fans. My mama just sent me a photo of her. She went to a cowboy store and bought her a cowboy hat. My daddy bought him some cowboy boots because we're going to be in Dallas, Texas for WrestleMania. So, I mean, they're going all in. My daddy's falling over the back of the couch when I'm doing my entrance. Nobody ever believed me when I used to tell them that my daddy would get so excited just off of like my entrance that he would just fall over the back of the couch and I finally got on camera. But WrestleMania, my daddy almost jumped over the barricade. Security had to grab him. My mama was praise dancing when I won WrestleMania. My brother almost threw my nephew over the barricade. It was just, they're just, they are the most amazing, most loving, supportive people ever. And I would not be able to do what I do without them. They're just, they're everything. And they have to be there for every one of my big moments. They have to be. Oh, Bianca, you have other talents too. You make your own ring gear. And so, husband as well. Tell us about that and could we see, could we see a Bianca Belair clothing line at some point? That's, the goal is to eventually do a clothing line. Right now I'm very busy. But yes, I make and I sew all of my own gear. It's just, I've been sewing since I was a little girl by hand but now honestly, I learned everything from YouTube and just experimenting. I got my first sewing machine maybe five years ago. But no, I'm making so my own gear. I love to do it. You know, it's just a feeling of you getting the ring. And I look down, I'm like, I made this. I'm looking at the girl across from me like, what did you do? You didn't make your gear, I made my gear. But it's even like these dope moments of like, when I go to the store and I see my action figure and I'm like, that's me and the gear that she has on, I made that gear. When I look at the video game, it's me and I'm in the gear that I made. And it's even, I can't like, at the end of my career, I'm going to have this huge collection because I make all of my gear with the purpose of only wearing it once for my big moments. So every time I look at a specific gear, I know exactly where it came from. And so I collect all these gears. I have my Royal Rumble gear, my Survivor Series gear, WrestleMania gear, and I've only worn it for those specific moments. That's so dope. Now, the one that stood out also, the Black History gear that she brought, what made you decide to do that one and what was the reaction to it? Yeah. So the year before I did a Black History month gear where I just did a bunch of like different icons and people that were like role models to me. And the next year of a Black History month, I was in takeover Portland versus facing Rhea Ripley. And we, you know, we always talk about like Black History and we, and I feel like we always a lot of times go to the history books to find Black History. So my thing was, you know, don't just learn history, make history. Let's dive into Becky Lynch then. And this battle, WrestleMania, two night event, April 2nd, April 3rd, Arlene Sexis on the streaming. Hicoc, how'd you come to find out about this? This showdown with Becky Lynch and what can we expect? What can we expect? You can expect me walking out of WrestleMania as Rawel and me champion and redeeming myself against Becky Lynch. That's what you can expect. I'm putting that in the air. But no, yeah, I got to redeem myself. You know, Becky Lynch, I was champion. I was championing off of main event in WrestleMania and had all this momentum and then Becky Lynch came in to Summer Slum and beat me in 26 seconds. And she became the champion and she's been holding on to that championship ever since. And every single time that I've tried to go up against her, something got in my way. The match got messed up by Sasha or the triple threat where I didn't get pinned and I hit my finish on her but then Sasha came and messed it up. Or Becky's cheating, whatever it is. I'm not making excuses. I'm just focusing on WrestleMania and I'm coming after her. This story, this feud has been going on since August. So I'm looking to bring it full circle and just show people that, look, you can be on top and you can fall just as quickly as you rose. But at the end of the day, you go through things, don't give up and keep pushing through. And it's okay. Sometimes bad things happen, but we're going to push through and we're going to bring this story around full circle and get back on top of that WrestleMania. Is it going to be a quick work? Are you expecting a long night? I don't know. This is my thing. Last year I walked into WrestleMania as a rookie. This year I'm walking in as a former WrestleMania winner. And Becky Lynch and I are the only two females that have ever won the main event of WrestleMania, going head to head again at WrestleMania. So I don't know if it's going to be quick. I don't know if it's going to be long, but I know we're going to give a WrestleMania performance, a WrestleMania match one to remember. And I'm just looking to go back to back and just walk out as Royal Miss Champion. And whether that takes 25 seconds or 25 minutes, my goal is walking out as Royal Miss Champion. More history being made for sure. Before we wrap, you mentioned the video game already, WWE 2K22. How surreal is that? I mean, you mentioned not only you can choose your character, just like the action figure, you can choose your character, but that's an outfit that you designed. But just being in a video game, period. And people can choose you and compete with you, just how surreal is that? Being in a video game, it's surreal. I will never get used to it. But my husband and I, we were just playing the video game. He had me facing Becky Lynch in the video game. And it's one thing to just see you in the video game. He's like, that's my face. That's my hair. But then to see the video game where it shows, it's your mannerisms. And it's, you know, it's your taunting people and I'm hair whipping people. It's surreal. And sometimes after I see myself in the video game, I'm just like, what do I do now? Do I just, I'm in a video game. Do I still eat like lunch? Or do I eat like a different type of lunch? I don't know. I'm feeling an acting kind of different right now. But it's cool. For me, the coolest thing about that too is my nieces and my nephews and my step kids, they play me in the video game. And then I get hit up by my friends from like college and high school. They have kids now and their kids are playing me in the video game. It's crazy. It's wild. It's like with music you were talking about, you know, Magnestalian and Jay Cole earlier and people reciting their lyrics. I mean, that's their art form, but your art form is being imitated in games by kids who appreciate you, grown folks appreciate you. I mean, that's influence, you know, right there. It's wild, right? It's so wild. So to be able to see it and get videos of kids and adults, and it doesn't matter who it is, getting videos of them playing the video game and playing me, it's cool. It's hard to put into words. It's a feeling and something that can be described. But I'm blessed and I'm honored. And I'm just happy. Finally, what does the future hold for Bianca Bella? The future for Bianca Bella is bright. It's the bright S. Do you see what I did there? The bright S. No, the future is starting with April 2nd at WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium, walking out as Raw Women's Champion. And then my long-term goal, you know, I wanted to feed all four horsewomen who is Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bailey and Sasha. After WrestleMania, when I walk out as Raw Women's Champion, I would have defended and pinned three out of the four. So I pinned Bailey. I pinned Sasha. In WrestleMania 38, my goal is to pin Becky Lynch. And after that is to go after Charlotte Flair. I want to be the, you know, I'm here as one of the faces of the new generation of women's wrestling coming through. The four horsewomen have done amazing things and paved the way. And I'm just here to come through and say, hey, just scoot aside, make some room for me because I'm here on the scene now too. So that's my long-term goal. And, you know, we'll throw after, you know, right now I'm focused on wrestling after that. We'll throw maybe in some acting in there, some movies. You know, I see what Sasha Banks over there doing. So we're acting and I would love to get into that. Maybe write some children's books and some books in there. And hey, now, you know, we talked about the video game. I would love to be on the cover of a video game. Oh, hey. The only woman by myself. I love it. Well, you know what's on your, not just the WrestleMania, but with everything that you have going on. And just keep making history. We appreciate you and love this conversation. Thank you so much, Bianca. Thank you. This was fun.