Bianca Belair Talks WWE Survivor Series, WrestleMania Dream Match, Heel Turn and More

Come the close of 2022, Bianca Belair is going to lead a lot of fans' lists as WWE's biggest and brightest star of the year.

The EST of WWE had a standout 2021 and managed to top herself this year, having held the Raw Women's Championship for a majority of it. She's also been churning out amazing performances one after another and has remained one of the most beloved competitors in the entire company.

At Survivor Series this Saturday, however, she'll face one of her toughest challenges to date in the form of WarGames when she and four of Raw's other top talent take on Damage CTRL, Nikki Cross and Rhea Ripley.

It's a battle for supremacy in the red brand's stacked women's division and the culmination of Belair's months-long rivalry with Damage CTRL. Once she puts them in her rearview, she can resume focus as a fighting champ and working her way toward hitting the historic one-year mark in her title reign.

Ahead of Survivor Series, Belair sat down with Bleacher Report to discuss being at the apex of WWE, staying so over, the possibility of a heel turn down the road, her WrestleMania dream match and more.

Dealing with the Pressure She Faces as Raw Women's Champion

Although Belair is still a relatively fresh face to a portion of the WWE audience, she has definitely dominated the scene these past two years and is quickly becoming a household name for the company.

Heading into Survivor Series, she has reigned as Raw Women's champion for over 230 days. That puts her above Asuka and Ronda Rousey but below Becky Lynch as the second longest-reigning camp in the title's history.

The more main event experience she gets, the less likely it is she succumbs to the pressure.

“[The pressure] definitely becomes more expected," Belair told B/R. "It's never a comfortable place as champion. In my chase for the title, I had nothing to lose, and when you get the title, the work doesn't stop. It just starts over in a different way. Now I have everything to lose, I have a target on my back and everyone's coming for me. I feel I've learned from a lot of my mistakes as SmackDown Women's champion.”

She previously held the SmackDown Women's title from WrestleMania 37 through SummerSlam, where she was blindsided by Lynch and lost the belt in record-setting time. As significant of a setback as it was for her, she had no issue bouncing back and reclaiming her place atop the division.

Belair promises to never be caught off guard again and thrives being in bigger matches. She's more than earned the Big Match Belair nickname and is honored to occupy the spot she does right now.

“I feel like this is my redemption," she said about her Raw Women's Championship reign. "I had the SmackDown Women's Championship so much shorter than I would have liked, and I feel like this is my do-over. It's been tough and challenging because, in the beginning, I felt like everything kept going wrong. This person got hurt and I couldn't wrestle them and this happened and that. In the end, it's just made me better. I love my journey.”

Recapturing the Magic of NXT's Women's Division with Triple H in Charge

Amazingly, every woman slated to compete in the women's WarGames match at Survivor Series is a product of the NXT system and took part in the brand's women's revolution at one point or another.

Since Triple H took the reins of WWE in July, he has brought back several familiar female faces from NXT's past and filled out the Raw and SmackDown women's division with them. That only gives Belair more elite competition to defend her Raw Women's Championship against.

“It kind of feels like NXT all over again," she said. "When we were in NXT, it was amazing, it was special, and it was a time when the locker room was full of women empowerment. We were competitors, but we wanted the best for each other and we were going out there and delivering some amazing matches.”

She went on to add that everyone has improved since then, giving the main roster one of the most stacked women's divisions it's had in years. She's excited for everyone's future, including those who were already part of the division before the recent surge of talent.

Her Key to Staying Over as a Face and the Possibility of a Heel Turn

It's commonplace for wrestling fans to grow bored of a babyface being in a certain spot after a stretch of time and turn on them. However, that has yet to happen with Belair.

In fact, The EST of WWE has been consistently receiving strong reactions for as long as crowds have been back in the building. It's a testament to not only her booking but also her ability to remain likable and interesting as a character.

“The best advice I can give someone is being myself," Belair said. "If I go around calling myself The EST of WWE, I have to believe it. I'm big on being the genuine me, and you're either going to like it or you're going to love it, but I'm going to love myself to where you're not going to have a choice.”

She believes everyone will jump on the Belair bandwagon eventually and that her fans are the ones who push her to be the best version of herself every day. She wants to not only inspire people but have them remember how she made them feel while watching her.

That puts the possibility of her returning to her roots as a heel and turning her back on the audience in doubt. Her gimmick as The EST of WWE works exceptionally well as both a babyface and a heel, so there is a chance that character change comes to fruition much later down the road.

“I've had such a positive impact," Belair said. "Walking out and seeing the signs and kids dressed as me and inspiring people...to have that connection with people and to think about possibly turning on them, I feel like it's me turning on them! I mean, maybe. In NXT, I had so much fun. It was fun to be a bad guy, but as the EST, it can go either way.”

How She and Montez Ford Can Be WWE's Next Big Power Couple

It's no secret that Belair and Montez Ford have been married in real life for some time now, but despite that, their interactions on WWE TV have been few and far between.

It's acknowledged on-screen that the two are an item, but fans are anxiously awaiting the day that they link up and become the biggest power couple WWE has seen in years.

Belair has been busy with the Raw Women's Championship while Ford has remained a regular in the tag team division, so it's not too surprising that it hasn't happened yet. If and when that day does come, their dynamic would be even stronger if the two of them were both heels.

“I feel like a bad guy, NXT Belair, you see glimpses of her," she said. "If somebody pushes me a little too much, like Bayley, you see glimpses of it. But, definitely Montez and I, down the road, we can be this amazing, overly...you can hate to love us and love to hate us at the same time."

Belair explained that they have their own individual goals to accomplish in the meantime but that it's inevitable they'll come together on television to form an unstoppable unit.

"I feel like that would be later down the line when I run my course as Bianca Belair," she said. "He has to get those tag titles first as The Street Profits and later down the line he's going to be the biggest solo act out there. I'm saying it right now. He will be that guy. At the end of that, that's eventually when we'll come together and we can be that major power couple of WWE.”

Rhea Ripley Being Her Dream Opponent for WrestleMania 39

With tickets now available for all of WWE's upcoming events at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles over WrestleMania weekend, fans are already looking ahead to possible opponents for Belair at WrestleMania 39.

From Asuka and Becky Lynch to Sonya Deville and Bayley, she's overcome every obstacle put in her path these last several months. Rhea Ripley, meanwhile, is the one name she has yet to conquer.

The two crossing paths backstage on Raw recently was likely meant to plant the seeds for that WrestleMania-worthy encounter. It would mean that much more if Belair is still Raw Women's champion come April.

“It's going to happen," Belair said. "Rhea and I have been going at it for years since NXT. We're on equal sides doing amazing things, and we're eventually going to cross paths. To run into her at Raw, it was kind of like, 'I'll see you later. But not right now.'"

Belair and Ripley originally mixed it up during their time in NXT, most notably at TakeOver: Portland in February 2020. They went on to be the final two in the 2021 women's Royal Rumble and both captured their first main roster championships at WrestleMania 37.

Charlotte Flair is another elite athlete Belair hasn't beaten, and Belair believes that beating Flair would give her the confidence needed to take down Ripley.

"It's going to happen and it's going to be monumental," she said. "I think that's a WrestleMania match. Maybe this year, maybe WrestleMania 40, but I still have my short-term goal of taking down all four Horsewomen. I've gotten three. I've still got Charlotte.”

With Belair and Ripley being on opposite ends of WarGames on Saturday, Survivor Series could be where the build to that bout officially gets underway.

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Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.