Bianca Belair

Blair entered her information into the WWE prospects database shortly after the premature end of her CrossFit career "more on a whim than with an actual plan", according to Hurd.[7] Less than two weeks later, she received a social media message from 20–year WWE veteran Mark Henry, who had come across Blair's profile on the CrossFit circuit, saying he could get her a tryout, but emphasized that she had to do the work.[7] After two official tryouts,[7] Blair signed a contract with WWE on April 12, 2016, and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.[2] Blair made her first appearance during an in–ring segment at an NXT live event on June 25 as "Binky Blair", where she proclaimed to be the "EST of NXT... prettiest, baddest, strongest."[9][5][10] She made her in–ring debut in September, losing to Aliyah.[11]

On the May 3, 2017 episode of NXT, Blair made her television debut as part of a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, where she was eliminated by Billie Kay and Peyton Royce.[12] In June, Belair defeated Aliyah to qualify for the Mae Young Classic,[13] where she defeated Sage Beckett in the first round,[14] but was eliminated in the second round by the eventual tournament winner Kairi Sane.[15][16]

Belair (middle) and Lacey Evans before a tag team match at a house show in June 2018

After the Mae Young Classic, starting from the January 24, 2018 episode of NXT, Belair began an undefeated streak by defeating various competitors[17][18] such as Lacey Evans,[19] Candice LeRae,[20] Aliyah,[21] Dakota Kai[22] and Deonna Purrazzo.[23] On April 8, Belair made her Wrestlemania debut as she participated in the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34 alongside other women from the NXT roster, however, she was eliminated by Becky Lynch.[24] Throughout the rest of the year, Belair started a short feud with Nikki Cross, which led to two different matches between the two — one that ended in a double count–out[25] and one that ended in a no contest, after Aleister Black interrupted the match due to Cross' involvement in a storyline that involved him.[26] On the January 9, 2019 episode of NXT, Belair defeated Cross in what was Cross' final match as part of the brand before moving to the Main Roster, ending their feud in the process.[27]

In December 2018, Belair won a Fatal 4-way match against Lacey Evans, Mia Yim, and Io Shirai to become the number one contender for the NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler.[28][29][30] On January 26, 2019 at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, after multiple interferences by Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, Belair lost to Baszler, ending her undefeated streak at 367 days.[31]

Throughout the next few months, Belair continued to work as a tweener. In February, she teamed with The Sky Pirates (Sane and Shirai) to defeat The Horsewomen (Baszler, Duke and Shafir) in a six-woman tag match.[32] On the March 13 episode of NXT, a number 1 contenders match between Belair and Shirai ended in a no contest after Baszler interfered and attacked both competitors and Sane, who came to the ring to try and stop her. Later, a fatal 4–way match between Belair, Shirai, Sane, and Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship was announced and would take place at NXT TakeOver: New York on April 5.[33][34][35] At the TakeOver: New York event, Baszler once again retained her title as she submitted Belair.[36]

On the May 1 episode of NXT, Belair started a feud with Mia Yim after confronting Yim at the WWE Performance Center.[37] The next week, they had a match which Belair would win.[38] On the next episode of NXT, Yim confronted Belair backstage and said she wanted a rematch.[39] That match took place two weeks later where Yim would get the victory, the first pinfall lost for Belair in NXT.[40] A third match was scheduled for the June 5 episode of NXT, where Yim would once again pick up the victory.[41] A "relentless and aggressive" Belair would returned to NXT television in July, squashing both Priscilla Zuniga[42][43] and Xia Li[44] in less than three minutes, and defeating Taynara Conti on the September 4 episode. After that match, a triple threat match between Belair, Yim, and Io Shirai to determine the number 1 contender for the NXT Women's Championship was announced.[45] A week later, Candice LeRae would be added to the match, making it a fatal 4-way. The match would be the first match on the debut episode of NXT on the USA network, where LeRae would emerge victorious.[46][47] After defeating Dakota Kai on the October 9 episode of NXT, Belair would challenge NXT Women's title contender Rhea Ripley to a match.[48] The match took place two weeks later with Ripley gaining the victory despite outside interference from Shirai and LeRae.[49]

On the November 1 episode of SmackDown, Belair was one of the many NXT wrestlers to invade the show, when she attacked Carmella and Dana Brooke before their scheduled match against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. Later that night, Belair joined Triple H and the rest of the NXT roster as they declared war on both Raw and SmackDown, and vowed to win the Survivor Series brand warfare.[50][51] At NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Belair and Team Baszler (NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, and NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray) faced Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Tegan Nox) in the first ever women's WarGames match, where Ripley would give her team the victory by pinning Baszler.[52] The following night at Survivor Series, Belair was part of Team NXT (along with Ripley, LeRae, Shirai, and Toni Storm) who defeated Team Raw (Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane, and Sarah Logan) and Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, and Nikki Cross) in the 5-on-5-on-5 women's elimination match, which her team won after Ripley pinned SmackDown's captain Sasha Banks.[53][54]

On the January 15, 2020 episode of NXT, Belair won a women's battle royal to earn a NXT Women's Championship match against Rhea Ripley at NXT TakeOver: Portland.[55][56] At Royal Rumble 2020, Belair entered her first Women's Royal Rumble match at Number 2, eliminating a record 8 other superstars, before being eliminated by the eventual winner Charlotte Flair after lasting for 33 minutes and 20 seconds.[57] Flair, the 2020 Royal Rumble winner, appeared on the February 5 episode of NXT to answer Ripley's challenge for an NXT Championship match at WrestleMania 36. Belair, Ripley's title contender at Takeover: Portland, would confront Flair before they were interrupted by Ripley, with Belair and Ripley eventually teaming up to attack Flair.[58]

Ripley would go on to defeat Belair at TakeOver: Portland before Flair attacked both Ripley and Belair after the match.[59] On the February 19 episode of NXT, Belair would interrupt a match between Chelsea Green and Kayden Carter to cut a promo on Flair and challenge the Raw superstar to meet her on NXT.[60] A match between the two was scheduled for the next episode of NXT, where Flair would get the victory and would injure Belair's ankle with a chair after the match before Ripley would run-in and chase Flair away.[61][62].

At WrestleMania 36, Belair turned face by saving Street Profits (her husband Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins) from Zelina Vega, Angel Garza and Austin Theory. The following night on Raw, Belair established herself as a member of the Raw roster as she came to the aid of the Street Profits against Vega, Garza and Theory which led to a six person tag match where Belair and Street Profits were victorious.