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Bianca Belair and Montez Ford are offering viewers an inside look of their everyday adventures inside and outside the ring with Love & WWE. The new Hulu reality series, which premieres February 2, chronicles the power couple’s road to WrestleMania 39 last year.
For Ford, it’s about ascending to the next level not only alongside his Street Profits tag partner Angelo Dawkins but in the singles ranks as well. Belair feels the pressure and responsibility of maintaining a rigorous schedule, holding the Raw women’s championship. Along with life on the road, cameras follow the pair as they wrestle with the idea of having children, finding quality time to spend together, and managing family dynamics.
The stylish duo sat down with us to chat about what it’s like opening up their life for all the world to see.
Did you have any trepidation entering this personal project?
Montez Ford: Well, everything decision-wise and approval-wise goes to the wife. It has been a four-year process. Ever since 2020 we’ve been working on the show that the world is seeing in 2024. We shot the sizzle reel in 2020 and went through logistics and timing with the world going through the pandemic. Are we excited that it’s finally coming out? Yes. Opening the world up to our lives has been something to be nervous about. But in a sense, we do that with WWE already. Now we’re just pulling the curtain back a little bit more so they can see everything leading up to the entrances, matches and different things in our career. We’re excited about it. A lot of people don’t really know those struggles, but this show gives them some insight: the peaks, the valleys, the highs and lows, the good and bad.
Chris McEniry/Hulu
Did you get any advice from anyone about the process like The Miz or Maryse or a Total Divas alum?
Bianca Belair: We definitely went to Miz and Maryse a lot. They had a successful reality series that was based around WWE and their married life. Being that they were examples of a couple who are successful and showing their marriage is stronger than ever. We definitely went to them because we want the same thing. We got some great feedback from them. Their advice was to just be genuine and authentic and have fun because that’s how people relate to you. We aimed to do a show that was authentic to us. You get the characters in the ring, but we want to peel that curtain back and present our home life. We want to show how we navigate everything as husband and wife. That’s the advice we get from them.
This season explores your decision-making process about having children. I think the perspective has changed for women in the industry where a Becky Lynch or Candice LeRae has shown you can maintain a career while being a mom. That is something non-wrestling fans can relate to.
Bianca: Being a female at the height of her career, reaching that 35-year-old timeline where people start asking those questions if I’m going to have a baby or not. Then it’s me questioning myself. What is it that I want? What is it we want? These questions that naturally occur around this timeframe. Just opening us to the world to show them that we are having that conversation and opening up the dialogue. Showing how these decisions can affect your marriage and career and how you handle that.
Maybe you do want the same thing. Maybe you don’t. Maybe the timing is off. Do you sacrifice your career to have a baby? Or do you sacrifice having a baby for a career. I think a lot of people are going through this in this day and age. A lot of women are choosing not to have to make a choice. We have the Becky Lynch’s and Candice LeRae’s where their significant others are in the business with them, and they are able to still be a wife, a mother, a wrestler. It’s having a conversation not so much now of if it’s possible rather than do you want to do it? I think the dialogue is changing. We’re showing how that is happening with us and what we are going to do with it.
How was it having family involved in filming?
Montez: Stay away fam. It’s more excuses to come into our life more. Stay away! No, it’s great. We travel so much, we’re able to spend more quality time with our loved ones. They are involved and are supportive and are there during intimate time and non-intimate time. It’s a blessing. They are part of the show and the journey and the reason we are who we are today. So it was important to show that. A little bit of them
Bianca: They are a huge support system. They are definitely part of the show because they are always there no matter what for us.
Bianca, it’s incredible you find the time to make your own gear and even Montez’s gear. There are so many looks this season. You make it a point to match every day in colors and looks. I don’t know how you find the energy to do that kind of planning.
Bianca: I always say that matching is one of our love languages. It’s one thing we first connected on. We connected on fashion. I love it, and he loves it. We love dressing up. It’s something that naturally happens. We’ve been doing it since we met each other in 2016. Now we don’t even think about it. If I go shopping, I’ll find something that matches him. He’ll come home and bring me something. My mama always says he buys me the best clothes. That I should just let him buy my clothes. He is a great shopper. We love matching each other. People will see us together and are like, “I can’t believe you got him to match you and have him wear that.” But he bought it. It’s something we love to complement each other. We love to coordinate.
Montez: We are a couple, so you have to present yourself like that. Also, it makes it easier to choose options. Sometimes you spend 30 hours trying to figure out what you’re going to wear. When you go out with your significant other, it’s easy to find an outfit to match.
WrestleMania season is here. Have you started planning your gear and entrance?
Montez: We’re going to be the best dressed no matter what.
Bianca: I’m going to be honest with you Royal Rumble is this Saturday, and I haven’t even picked that gear. It’s getting harder and harder because I run out of time. I actually have a piece of it in my purse right now that I carry around. Every time I get some down time I work on it. But I have no idea what I’m going to do for WrestleMania. Something will spark and inspire me. The amazingly talented fans make so many designs. A lot of the stuff they draw, I end up making. It makes me feel good that I’m pushing myself. You can expect great gear, a big entrance and hopefully a lot of matching outfits.
What are you most excited for people to see from Love & WWE?
Bianca: I think what I’m most excited about is people seeing the process. People see us in the ring sometimes for a few minutes for a match. They don’t realize what leads up to that moment. They don’t realize we’ve been on the road for five straight days before you’ve seen us in the ring. You don’t realize the hard work and time and the commitment and sacrifices that go into that moment that we’re giving people. Everything we put into it. We filmed the show as I was the longest reigning Raw women’s champion. My schedule was so busy, and I tried juggling it all. So seeing the ins and outs of it and how it can affect our personal life and how we deal with it. Really showing that wrestling is cool. And marriage and wrestling is cool too.
Love & WWE: Bianca & Montez, February 2, Hulu