The challenges in an attempt to turn Bianca Belair heel

Bianca Belair is one of the most important new stars in professional wrestling and WWE must tread lightly with her next character iteration. 

Creating stars has been a challenge for WWE in recent years, but Bianca Belair is an example of one individual that has bucked that trend, growing into a massive name for the promotion. After a 420-day run as WWE Raw Women’s Champion that ended thanks to Asuka, both women are wrapped up in an angle with Charlotte Flair.  As some wonder what is next for Belair, there’s speculation that she’s going to turn heel. If that’s the plan, WWE faces a serious challenge in convincing fans she’s an individual that should be booed in today’s wrestling scene.

To set the stage. Imagine a situation where Belair “turns heel” against a woman that cheated to end her historic reign and another whose privilege allows her to continually skip the line and remain in the division’s title picture. Belair, is a performer who has organically reached superstar status, despite all the asinine booking decisions she faced and what seemed to be attempts to sabotage her run. Belair still overcame those odds and is a fan favorite across all professional wrestling with viewers, media, and her peers alike.

WWE faces three challenges if an attempt to turn Bianca Belair heel is on the horizon.

First, nothing about Belair’s character comes off as a heel. She was characterized as such in NXT, but she was a performer who had an overwhelming confidence in themselves – as they all should. That confidence breeds her success and believes that she is the “EST of WWE.” It would be difficult to take that character and switch them up as a heel in the typical WWE fashion. What does that mean?  She runs in on matches to cause DQs? Ducks out on challenges from strong opponents? None of that would make sense with Belair’s character and would not work in any sense.

Second, the fan reaction to Belair will remain positive. WWE faced a similar situation with Seth Rollins in recent years. Even though Rollins was technically a heel, fans continued to cheer for him simply because he continued to show that he was the best performer on the roster. That led to him once again becoming an organically over babyface and the top star on WWE Monday Night Raw. You could see a similar situation brewing with Rhea Ripley. Fans love her and don’t boo her, they boo Dominick Mysterio. Despite him, fans still cheer for Ripley and they would cheer a heel Belair as well. There’s too much to love about her and all she’s done in wrestling, plus, she’s the individual who has been wronged in this initial storyline.

Third, WWE does not have any strong babyfaces in the women’s division that would work against Belair as a heel. The only two women that could potentially work as a heel against Belair are Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus. Outside of those two, WWE hasn’t shown an interest in consistently building names in the women’s division that could stand a chance against Belair. That was apparent during her title reign.

Bianca Belair is one of the hottest organically grown stars in professional wrestling. As she continues to reach new heights, WWE must find a way to keep her fresh in the eyes of fans. It will be interesting to see what creative direction is made for her current run, but a big challenge is coming if the idea is to turn her heel.