The EST of NXT owes a lot to the World’s Strongest Man (Credit: WWE)

Bianca Belair has paid tribute to WWE legend Mark Henry and the huge impact he’s had on her career.

The EST of NXT has been open about how the World’s Strongest Man helped her land a tryout with the sports entertainment giant, and she revealed he’s always been on hand as a ‘mentor’ throughout her first four years as bart of the black and gold brand.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, she said: ‘He’s been a mentor for me. He’s obviously been at a lot of the major matches that I’ve had at TakeOvers – the best advice that I feel like he’s given me was way before Belair existed, he said “Who do you wanna be? What do you wanna showcase in the ring?”



‘You want people to know who you are without even opening your mouth… That really helped with my development.’


Mark Henry has been on land for advice (Credit: WWE)

The Hall of Famer’s influence came very early in Bianca’s WWE journey – which followed an athletics career spanning powerlifting, CrossFit, and track and field – as he played on her strong work ethic to lay the challenge on the line.

‘The main thing that he did say to me, he basically told me, “I can get you a tryout, that’s about it. You have to do the rest of the work,” ‘ she revealed.

‘That’s what I’ve been doing – he really set the tone, that if you’re going to do this, you’ve gotta do it on your own.’

Despite coming from a sports background rather than the world of entertainment, Belair took like a fish to water with the theatrical side of professional wrestling.

‘The character development, for me, actually kind of happened naturally, I found it pretty easy,’ she said. ‘When I first came in, I I was trying to narrow it down to fit into the character I was seeing.

‘“I’m strong, I’m fast… I’m an all round talented athlete, talented in every aspect of life” – without sounding cocky – but it actually worked.’

Bianca is a natural (Credit: WWE)

Now living out her best life every week as the EST of NXT, Belair revealed the inspiration for her moniker came from a very real place after letting loose following years of playing down her own strengths.

‘Sometimes in my childhood, I felt bad if I was better at something, or if it just came to me easier. Sometimes it’d be like “Oh, she’s just showing off, she thinks she’s better than us,” ‘ she revealed.

‘I was living my life for others, acting like I couldn’t do things. I made other people my own responsibility… I felt like I had worked my whole life and is got this opportunity, and now this was a perfect time to turn it around and become Bianca Belair where I’m not hiding what I can do.

‘I worked hard, and I have no problem telling you that I’m better than you because I worked so hard! It all just naturally came together.

‘I was like, I’m the strongest, I’m the fastest, I’m the toughest, im the roughest, I’m the est, est, est, and then it became EST, and EST rhymes with WWE and NXT. It all just naturally really came together for me.’



*NXT airs every Wednesday night at 1am on BT Sport 1, BTSport.com and the BT Sport app.

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