Wrestling & MMA

SmackDown women’s champ Bianca Belair and WWE make a statement at Rolling Loud Miami

What an incredible 2021 for WWE SmackDown women’s champ Bianca Belair, and we’re just six months plus into the year.

While the year isn’t even close to being over, what is over is Belair. Over in terms of connecting with fans.

With WWE resuming its touring schedule nationally with fans in attendance, Belair can see that firsthand from members of the WWE Universe at various shows, especially SummerSlam, which is on the horizon.

Most recently, Belair took to the skyline as WWE made history when “The EST of WWE” successfully defended her SmackDown title at the huge Rolling Loud Miami hip-hop festival on July 23.

Posted on Twitter via Bianca Belair

It marked the first time WWE collaborated with a major music festival, as matches during WWE “Friday Night SmackDown” on FOX were broadcast from the event outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Hard Rock Stadium is home to the NFL Miami Dolphins and was home to WWE WrestleMania 28 in 2012.

Photo By Chris Garrison Courtesy WWE

Belair, a hip-hop fan, was stoked to be an integral part of the action at Rolling Loud Miami.

Here is my audio interview with Belair.

WWE superstars The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Belair’s husband Montez Ford) also were featured on the show, accompanied by Grammy-winning artist Wale, a huge WWE fan.

Posted on Twitter by Wale

This was not the first time Wale stood by The Street Profits. In WWE’s NXT in October 2019, Wale also seconded The Street Profits for an NXT tag team title match against The Undisputed ERA (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish).

Song idea for Wale. “We Want The Smoke.”

The Street Profits with Wale and Belair brought the smoke to Rolling Loud Miami.

Photo By Craig Ambrosio Courtesy WWE
Photo By Craig Ambrosio Courtesy WWE

After celebrating her victory over The Most Beautiful Woman in All of WWE, Carmella, the athletically gifted Belair grabbed the mic and made a special introduction, turning it over to NBA Atlanta Hawks star point guard Trae Young. He appeared on the giant screen at Rolling Loud Miami to announce WWE’s first New Year’s Day pay-per-view will be January 1, 2022, from the State Farm Arena, home of the Hawks in Atlanta.

Young is lobbying to have the event named WWE New Year’s Trae. I like The Trae Young Classic. His younger brother Timothy closed the big announcement by saying, “Can you smell what the Youngs are cooking?”

As for what Belair’s been cooking. Plenty.

This talented sports entertainer, who designs and makes her own ring gear, started 2021 by winning the WWE Women’s Royal Rumble on Jan. 31 from the WWE ThunderDome at Tropicana Field, home of the MLB Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg.

Then she challenged the SmackDown women’s champ “The Boss” Sasha Banks for the title at WrestleMania 37 in nearby Tampa.

History made again, as two African American women main evented a WrestleMania.

Belair, with her family seated ringside, beat Banks for the championship at WrestleMania 37 on April 10. She did that in front of a sold-out crowd of 25,000-plus at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Limited capacity because of Covid restrictions.

Rolling Loud Miami on July 23, with tens of thousands of patrons, created another milestone for Belair, who designed special ring gear specifically for her Rolling Loud Miami match by highlighting the event’s logo of the Miami skyline. Cool.

Posted on Twitter By Bianca Belair

Next?

WWE SummerSlam on Saturday, Aug. 21 is big, too. The event, streaming on Peacock (United States) and WWE Network (elsewhere) with tens of thousands of fans in attendance, is from Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL Las Vegas Raiders.

Belair is looking forward to WWE SummerSlam, touring the road for WWE shows with fans in attendance and starting 2022 with a bang for WWE on New Year’s Day.

More history to be made by “The EST of WWE.”

Keep posted.

WWE Friday Night SmackDown on FOX is weekly at 8 p.m. EST.

NOTE: From their Central Florida residence, Belair and Ford are watching the Summer Olympics on NBC. Track & field is a favorite of Belair and Ford, who are former track standouts.

BIANCA BELAIR

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BiancaBelairWWE

https://linktr.ee/BiancaBelair

Bio: https://www.wwe.com/superstars/bianca-belair

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/biancabelairwwe/

https://www.foxsports.com/articles/wwe/smackdown-july-23-2021

https://metro.co.uk/2021/07/24/wwe-smackdown-bianca-belair-wins-huge-match-at-rolling-loud-festival-14982525/

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Jim Varsallone
Miami Herald
Jim Varsallone writes a high school sports column twice a week, featuring top performers in all varsity sports (boys and girls) in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He also covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies, mainly CCW. He writes MMA, too -- mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) -- sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel). Support my work with a digital subscription
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