Royal Rumble 2021: Bianca Belair discusses her historic win

The 2021 Royal Rumble gave fans plenty of fun moments to cherish.

Drew McIntyre and Goldberg delivered a quick and painless WWE Championship match. Sasha Banks and Carmella turned in another fine effort in their, hopefully, final singles match. Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns mostly avoided the boring “hit a move and stand around for nine seconds” format in their Last Man Standing match. And despite some grumbling from fans, many enjoyed Edge’s feel-good men’s Royal Rumble win.

But Bianca Belair’s win in the women’s Royal Rumble stood above the others as the defining moment of the pay-per-view.

Bianca Belair on her big Royal Rumble win.

“The EST of WWE” spoke with Complex Sports on Feb 1. and had this to say about her becoming the second Black WWE wrestler (and first Black woman) to win the Rumble:

"“It’s crazy. I didn’t know that fact until I got backstage and Kayla [Braxton] actually told me. It’s crazy that I never ever saw myself being in this position and I’m here now and creating history in the process of just trying to be me and trying to go after my goals and in the process I’m creating history. Being a part of representation, it’s an amazing feeling. It’s one thing to win the Royal Rumble and get your tickets to WrestleMania, but it’s another thing to add even more purpose to it while you’re doing it. It’s amazing.”"

Belair entered the 2021 Rumble at the third spot, usually a position that ends with a quick elimination due to it often going to cannon fodder or comic relief, and lasted nearly 57 minutes en route to winning.

In addition to that and eliminating four women — including Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, and archnemesis Bayley — Belair also shared a few moments with Naomi, who entered the match second and lasted over 47-and-a-half minutes, most notably when Naomi used Belair’s long braided ponytail to stave off elimination before the two worked together to remain in the contest.

For Belair, that spot was the highlight of the match (other than her winning, obviously):

"“That’s definitely one of my favorite moments of the match. I got to be in the ring with Naomi last year for the Royal Rumble for a very short time. But having that moment with her, we both almost being eliminated and dangling off of the rope and realizing like, “Look, if we got to do this together, we have to work together.” And when we finally work together, we end up saving ourselves in the process. So that was an amazing moment to have with her and shared everything with her and I’ve always looked forward to like just getting in the ring and creating magic with her because she’s so athletic and she’s so talented.”"

Most fans expect Belair to choose SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks as her opponent for WrestleMania 37, a match that many has have identified as a dream encounter since Belair was in NXT. But for now, the former college track star is keeping her options open (for kayfabe purposes):

"“I think it’s a huge decision and I’ve been thinking about it, but in this moment, the fact that I won the Women’s Royal Rumble match, I’m just living in the moment. When I was in the ring last night, it kind of hit me in two different stages: When I won, I was in a moment of everything just slowed down, and the realization of, “I just won the entire Royal Rumble, 30 women in the ring and I’m the last one standing,” that moment hit me up like, “Oh my god, I just won the Royal Rumble and I’m celebrating that.And then looking over and seeing the WrestleMania sign, it hit me like a couple of seconds later I was like, “Oh, wait, you’re going to WrestleMania,” it hit me at two different times and it was like a wave of emotions. And so just, the fact that it just hit me at two different times, I’m just living in the moment of winning the Royal Rumble and just trying to figure out my emotions right now and trying to not cry every five seconds. So I feel like I don’t want to make an emotional decision right now. I’m just trying to like get my emotions in check and weigh my options and then go from there.”"

You can read the rest of Belair’s interview with Complex here.