Bianca Belair

Bianca Blair Crawford (born Bianca Nicole Blair; April 9, 1989) is an American professional wrestler and fitness and figure competitor.

she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Bianca Belair.

One of two women to win at a WrestleMania main event, Belair's 420-day reign as Raw Women's Champion stands as the longest in the championship's history.

She also has the longest reign of any WWE women's championship since 2006, with WWE promoting her as the longest-reigning women's champion of the modern era.

This reign would break a couple of other records within WWE, including the longest-reigning black world champion (male or female) and the longest-reigning African American for any singles championship.

Blair attended Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she succeeded in many sports such as track.

She was a track and field athlete who competed in the hurdles and had what ESPN writer Sean Hurd called "a volatile six-year track career" that saw her attend three universities.

She first attended the University of South Carolina and then Texas A&M University, and later did not compete for a year, before going back home to Knoxville to complete her college career at the University of Tennessee, where she became All-SEC and All-American as well as being named to the SEC's academic honor roll in 2011 and 2012.

Blair was also a CrossFit competitor and powerlifter, having appeared in RX magazine, Femme Rouge magazine, and CrossFit.com.

Blair was forced to abandon her CrossFit career due to intercostal chondritis, also known as shifting rib syndrome, which she attributed to overtraining.

Blair entered her information into the WWE prospects database shortly after the premature end of her CrossFit career "more on a whim than with an actual plan", according to Hurd.

Less than two weeks later, while working phone sales at a flavoring company in Atlanta, she received a social media message from 20-year WWE veteran Mark Henry, who had come across Blair's profile on the CrossFit circuit, saying he could get her a tryout, but emphasized she had to do the work.

Belair made her professional wrestling debut in 2016 for WWE's developmental brand NXT, competing for the NXT Women's Championship on multiple occasions.

After being drafted to SmackDown, she won the 2021 Women's Royal Rumble match, becoming the second African American after The Rock to win a Royal Rumble match.

She successfully challenged for the SmackDown Women's Championship against Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 37, which marked the second time women main-evented WrestleMania, as well as the first time two African Americans main-evented WWE's flagship event.

In 2021, she was ranked No. 1 of the top 150 female wrestlers by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI).

In 2023, she became the longest-reigning Raw Women's Champion with her reign of 420 days.

After two official tryouts, Blair signed a contract with WWE on April 12, 2016, and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Blair made her first appearance during an in–ring segment at an NXT live event on June 25 as "Binky Blair", where she proclaimed to be the "EST of NXT... prettiest, baddest, strongest."

She made her in–ring debut on September 29, losing to Aliyah.

On the May 3, 2017, episode of NXT, Blair made her television debut under the ring name Bianca Belair, taking part in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, but was eliminated by Billie Kay and Peyton Royce.

Belair participated in the Mae Young Classic, defeating Sage Beckett in the first round, but was eliminated in the second round by the eventual tournament winner Kairi Sane.

In January 2018, Belair began an undefeated streak by defeating various competitors including Lacey Evans, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Deonna Purrazzo.

On April 8, Belair made her WrestleMania debut by participating in the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34, but was eliminated by Becky Lynch.

On January 26, 2019, at TakeOver: Phoenix, Belair unsuccessfully challenged Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship after interference from Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, ending her undefeated streak at 367 days.

At TakeOver: New York on April 5, Belair failed to win the title as she was submitted by Baszler in a fatal four-way match also involving Kairi Sane and Io Shirai.

On the May 29 episode of NXT, Belair suffered her first pinfall loss in NXT to Mia Yim.

A triple threat match between Belair, Yim, and Shirai to determine the #1 contender for the NXT Women's Championship was announced on the September 4 episode of NXT.

LeRae was added the next week to make it a fatal 4-way match.

The match would be the first match on the debut episode of NXT on the USA Network, which LeRae won.

On the October 23 episode of NXT, Belair lost to Rhea Ripley despite outside interference from Shirai and LeRae.

At WarGames on November 23, Belair and Team Baszler (NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, and NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray) lost to Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Tegan Nox) in the first ever women's WarGames match.

The following night, she participated at Survivor Series, where the three brands (Raw, SmackDown and NXT) faced each other in several matches; she was part of Team NXT, who defeated Team Raw and Team SmackDown in a 5-on-5-on-5 women's elimination match.

On January 26, 2020, at Royal Rumble, Belair entered her first women's Royal Rumble match at #2, eliminating a record 8 other superstars (tied with Baszler), before she was eliminated by eventual winner Charlotte Flair after lasting 33 minutes and 20 seconds.

At TakeOver: Portland on February 16, Belair faced Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship in a losing effort.

On the February 19 episode of NXT, she competed in her final match in NXT, losing to Flair.

At WrestleMania 36, Belair made her main roster debut as a face by saving The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and her husband Montez Ford) from Zelina Vega, Angel Garza, and Austin Theory, establishing herself as a member of the Raw roster.

As part of the 2020 Draft, Belair was drafted to the SmackDown brand.

On the October 30 episode of SmackDown, she defeated Billie Kay and Natalya in a triple threat match to qualify for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series on November 22, but was eliminated by countout and her team lost the match to Team Raw.

On January 31, 2021, at Royal Rumble, Belair won the Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Rhea Ripley, becoming the second-ever Black superstar to achieve this feat in WWE history after The Rock.