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Bianca Belair's first big test as SmackDown Women's Champion comes this Sunday at WrestleMania Backlash, when she takes on Bayley. The first ever Women's Grand Slam Champion in WWE history is back in the title picture after spending most of WrestleMania season on the sidelines.
After carrying the Smackdown Women's Championship for 380 straight days, and helping carry WWE through the COVID-19 pandemic, the Role Model didn't have a program heading into WrestleMania 37.
Much to the surprise, and dismay, of Bayley fans everywhere, it appeared as though WWE just didn't have any plans to use one of their top stars on their biggest show.
The WWE Universe took to social media in the weeks leading up to the Showcase of the Immortals, practically demanding that Bayley be a part of the show. As it turns out, the company was listening.
Not only did she appear at WrestleMania 37, but she had multiple segments on both nights of the show. Hulk Hogan and Titus O'Neil may have been named the hosts of WrestleMania, but early during night one Bayley stepped in as the unofficial third emcee of the event.
Many people thought Bayley would have been a slam dunk choice for this year's host given the fantastic mic work she's done over the last year plus. The company decided to go with two stars with ties to the Tampa area instead.
In the end, the three Superstars produced some pretty entertaining segments as Bayley tried to shoehorn her way into the spotlight and was largely, and awkwardly, rejected by her counterparts.
It was all capped off on night two when Bayley was interrupted by two of WWE's newest Hall of Famers. The Bella Twins approached Bayley as she was berating the fans and Michael Cole. One John Cena comment later, Bayley took a forearm shot from Nikki and was shoved down the entrance ramp. It's not exactly what fans had in mind for Bayley at WrestleMania, but it was better than nothing.
Speaking to Sportskeeda Wrestling this week, Bayley said if it wasn't for the fans, she might not have been on the show at all:
"Not to give too much away, but that was a very last minute thing. And I think it did have a big deal to do with people on Twitter and people kind of speaking their voice. Which I appreciate," Bayley said genuinely before switching back into character. "But I would have liked the two nights off guys. It would have been nice to sit back for once. I had to defend so many titles in the past at WrestleMania, so it would have been nice. And then I try to do something good for them and then I get tossed off the freaking stage by these two mothers [The Bella Twins]. So embarrassing. But you know what? It's all good. It's all in the past. And I'm back where I'm supposed to be."
While Bayley's sheep, as she calls them, would have liked something bigger for her at this year's WrestleMania, she seems more than okay with how things played out. With Bayley not competing on the Grandest Stage of Them All this year, it allowed her to fully enjoy the day that belonged to Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks.
When asked about the night one main event match, Bayley was overcome with emotion. She recalled watching her best friend wrestle from the crowd and was more than thrilled that The Boss got to perform on that stage:
"It was huge, obviously, to see Sasha in that light and to get that spotlight," Bayley said fighting back tears. "And to me, it seems like only fitting that I was also not wrestling on the card because, otherwise I would have been running around being crazy. We both would have been super busy. But I felt like leading up to it, I was just able to kind of soak in the whole moment. Soak in the whole night. Soak in, you know, the fans and it was just unbelievable."
Jumping back into character, Bayley said she was happy for Bianca as well - until the match ended. Now, she's got her sights set once again on the EST of WWE and that SmackDown Women's Championship.
Bayley says there's no one quite like Bianca Belair
Having spent the latter part of 2020 competing with her on a weekly basis, Bayley knows exactly what Bianca Belair is capable of doing in a wrestling ring. She doesn't call herself the EST of WWE for no reason. Week in and week out Bianca shows off her strength and athleticism.
Who could forget last year's obsticle course? During her run, Bianca hoisted all 330lbs. of Otis onto her back and carried him the length of the ring like it was nothing. Most recently at WrestleMania, we saw a series of moves where Bianca caught Sasha Banks on a dive to the outside, she rolled through, carried her up the ring steps, pressed her, and then tossed her back into the ring. Again, like it was nothing.
During her conversation with Sportskeeda Wrestling, Bayley took plenty of shots at Belair just as she would on SmackDown. But she also admitted something about the reigning SmackDown Women's Champion that you'd likely never hear Bayley say on TV:
"All jabs aside, you know, we've never seen anybody quite like her. She kind of has that like Beth Phoenix, Jacqueline, Chyna feel to where she just has a presence about her, that nobody can touch her," Bayley said. "We have so many amazing, talented, strong women on both shows, all three shows, NXT included, but there's nobody quite like Bianca. So that's why I'm really looking forward to WrestleMania Backlash and showing the world that there isn't really anybody like me either."
Sunday marks Bayley's first singles match in WWE since February. She's rested and ready to give Bianca Belair everything she has and she fully expects to walk away as the three-time SmackDown Women's Champion.
You can watch Bayley take on Bianca Belair this Sunday night at WrestleMania Backlash, starting at 7pm EST on Peacock.
Check out PART ONE of our conversation with Bayley in the video above. Also, follow Sportskeeda Wrestling on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube and be on the lookout for PART TWO when it drops later today.
