Bianca Belair Reveals How Her EST Persona and Signature Braid Were Born – Bianca Belair’s unique persona as the “EST of WWE” and her now-iconic braid have become defining traits in her rise to the top of WWE. During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Belair shared the story of how both the character and her distinct hairstyle came to be — with credit going to WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry and her husband, Montez Ford.
Belair explained that while training at the WWE Performance Center, she had a conversation with Henry during a promo class that helped shape her identity. Henry advised her to simplify what made her special — a comment that led Belair to an unexpected realization.
“He’s like, ‘You have to simplify it.’ I’m like, ‘How do I simplify this? I’m just the best at everything. I can’t just put myself in a box. I’m the strongest, I’m the fastest, I’m the roughest, I’m the toughest, I’m the quickest, I’m the greatest, I’m the best.’ Whoa, wait, all those things end in EST. Oh, so I’m the EST of everything. So it really all just came together in this one promo that I had on a coconut show. I was just kind of rambling, and it all just came together and it stuck. And so I just became the EST of NXT, now EST of WWE.”
As for her trademark braid, Belair revealed it was her husband Montez Ford who encouraged her to stick with the unique look — believing it would help her stand out from the rest of the roster.
“I wore a braid one time, and my husband, he was like, ‘That’s your thing. You have to stick with it.’ He’s like, ‘You have to keep the braid.’… He’s like, ‘But everybody does that. The best way to stand out here is to do something that nobody else is doing… they might not remember your name for the first time, but they’ll remember the girl with the braid.’”
Belair also confirmed that the loud, unmistakable “crack” heard during her hair whip spots is completely real, not enhanced by production.
“Yeah, a lot of people think that production adds a special effect to it, no [there’s no sound effect]. And every time that I do it, it’s loud… It’s a special way that I braid it, and I can whip it in the air… if I can hear the way that it goes in the wind, I can tell if it’s a hair whip braid. I’m like, ‘Yep, that’s it. We’re good.’”
Stay tuned to WrestlingAttitude, WA.Com On Facebook, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Google News for more.
Bianca Belair Reveals How Her EST Persona and Signature Braid Were Born
