Bianca Belair Explains Why She Feels SmackDown Women’s Title Reign Didn’t Live Up To Full Potential
At WrestleMania 37, Bianca Belair won the SmackDown Women’s Championship when she defeated Sasha Banks in the main event of night one.
Belair’s reign lasted up until SummerSlam, when she was scheduled to face Banks in a rematch, but Banks was not cleared to compete and a returning Becky Lynch took her spot, quickly defeating Belair to win the title.
As the reigning Raw Women’s Champion, Belair has had to deal with more on the fly changes as she was originally scheduled to face Rhea Ripley at WWE Money in the Bank, but an injury to Ripley led to Carmella taking her place. This marked the second year in a row where Belair’s opponent changed for WWE Money in the Bank as she was scheduled to face Bayley at WWE Money in the Bank 2021 before Bayley’s injury.
Speaking to Andreas Hale & Kel Dansby on the Corner Podcast, Belair discussed how the changes hurt her reigns.
“It’ difficult, and it gets frustrating for me sometimes,” she said of the changes. “Even with my SmackDown Title reign, I didn’t feel I was able to live up to the full potential as SmackDown’s Women’s Champion, with how short the reign was, and also with my feuds. Bayley getting injured — I can’t wait for Bayley to comeback — Bayley getting injured, Carmella having to step in at SummerSlam. Not being able to have these amazing matches that I could have had in my title reign and being able to go up against other great competitors to prove that I’m champion, and then it getting cut short. Fast forward, it’s like deja vu, it’s happening all over again. My competitors that I’m supposed to have, I’m not having. It gets frustrating, but I try to look at it as, I have to adapt and it’s making me a better competitor and making me stay on my toes. I always want to show that I’m always going to be there and be dependable and be able to show up and show out. Be the common denominator of whatever big moments happen. If someone else can’t show up, Bianca Belair is going to be there. Bianca Belair is going to be in the mix of the big moments and be talked about. That’s really my main goal, be part of big moments and always be available so my name can always stay in the conversation. Anytime they want a big match or big moment, Bianca Belair’s name comes up in the conversation because they know I’m going to come through, show up and show out.”
Belair was able to adapt at WWE Money in the Bank, defeating Carmella in singles competition.
Ahead of WWE Money in the Bank, Belair spoke to Fightful and provided more insight on how she’s able to adapt. You can find her full comments by clicking here.
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