Bianca Belair is proud to be a role model and give others a stage to show out.
At the post-show press conference following WrestleMania 39 Night Two, RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair was asked about including the Divas of Compton dance troupe in her WrestleMania entrance. Belair put over how talented the girls are, especially at such a young age and on a big stage.
Belair said that she is proud to be a role model and wanted to give them a stage to shine because they are the reason she does what she does.
“First of all, shoutout to Divas of Compton. They were amazing. Just getting to meet them, and during rehearsals, when I first got to meet them, I was tearing up and crying. I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can watch this before my match because I’m just gonna be bawling, crying.’ But to be able to bring them out, I wanted to have little ESTs. My favorite thing is to come out and see these little ESTs, that they see themselves in me and to be able to inspire them. They’re going to do amazing things, and I just wanted to bring them out and show that… I always talk about the role models that I had as a kid.
“I always talk about this in every interview, and I am where I am because of my role models, so to see little ESTs dressing up like me, and they’re seven years old, 12 years old. It took me until I was 30 years to get on this grand stage, and then they’re seven and twelve years old on this stage and not intimated by being in front of 80,000 people and being watched by thousands of people on Peacock. They were amazing, and I just wanted to give them the stage and let them shine bright and be little ESTs and let everybody know that there’s an EST inside of them. Representation is so important, and I always want to bring that to the table. They’re my why. Walking out as RAW Women’s Champion, it means so much. But to be able to inspire, they’re my why. They’re my whole reason why.”
Bianca Belair was later asked who inspired her in WWE, and she named Beth Phoenix as one of the wrestlers that she gravitated towards.
“I think my journey to WWE, at the time when I came in, was a little unique. It’s more common now with more athletes coming into WWE and not really having much knowledge about it initially. But when I first came in, I saw Beth Phoenix, and I saw myself in her. She was someone who was muscular and she was beautiful, and she embraced her feminine side, also her muscles empowered her. I saw her picking up two women at once and I’m like, ‘my body can do that, and I want to do that.’ I saw myself in Jacqueline. I saw myself in so many amazing women in WWE, and they’ve inspired me.
“Even from when I was a little kid, even outside of wrestling, when I wanted to be a Olympic track athlete, I saw myself in Gail Devers and…. Growing up, I realized representation is important. It’s very important. It shows you where the world sees where you fit your possibilities, but also encourage people, like if you see something that you want to do and you don’t see anyone that looks like you, then you become that person and you open the door for everyone else. I was so excited for the Divas of Compton tonight. I think they just absolutely showed up and showed out.”
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