WWE Divas Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks faced off in a two-night match for WrestleMania 37. As the crowd cheered on and a winner eventually announced, both women made history as the first black women to compete in a WrestleMania title match, according to CNN.
During a February episode of WWE Smackdown, Belair confidently challenged Banks to a WrestleMania match. But behind the cameras, both women were emotional about what they were about to take on. The two women met up backstage, according to The Undefeated, and cried together about achieving what they’ve wanted since childhood.
“That’s how much this moment means to the both of us: I’m shaking, she’s crying. I think that just speaks volumes, to be in that moment and have that real emotion coming out of both of us,” Belair told The Undefeated.
Similarly, Banks saw the opportunity as her biggest goal to date, telling the sports site “‘Oh, my God! Are you potentially checking off the biggest checkmark, goal, dream you’ve ever had in your whole life?’ And that is to main-event a WrestleMania.”
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The Tampa Bay-based wrestling event took off this past Saturday and drew over 25,000 fans to the venue, according to WWE. It was also WWE’s first live event in over a year, per COVID-19 restrictions. Millions of other viewers streamed WrestleMania 37 from home.
History.#wrESTleMania pic.twitter.com/CsG5JWxY21
— Bianca Belair (@BiancaBelairWWE) April 11, 2021
After facing off in the SmackDown Women’s Championship, Belair eventually went home with the title, but both women will likely remember the moment for the rest of their lives.
Still reeling from her win, Belair told PEOPLE, “I just created history in my debut at WrestleMania. I won the title. Am I supposed to go to sleep? Do I eat food? I don’t know what to do right now. I didn’t know what to do with myself and just kind of laid in bed and tried to grasp what happened.”
We can’t wait to see what next is in store for Belair and Banks!
