Bianca Belair

Bianca Blair Crawford (born Bianca Nicole Blair; April 9, 1989) is an American professional wrestler and a fitness and figure competitor. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bianca Belair, and is the current Raw Women's Champion in her first reign. A former track and field athlete, Belair made her professional wrestling debut in 2016 for WWE's developmental territory 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). On October 19, 2022, she reached 200 days as Raw Women's Champion, becoming the longest-reigning black world champion (male or female) in WWE history. 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 completing 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.