Why WWE's Bianca Belair Says She Didn't Know What She Was Getting Into With Wrestling

Unlike several of her peers who wrestled for years in the indies, Bianca Belair took a totally different path to the WWE that saw her excel as a track-and-field athlete and an award-winning CrossFit competitor who initially had no desire to ever enter the pro wrestling business. As the story goes, Belair — after abandoning her CrossFit career due to a health issue — was working as a telemarketer in the Atlanta area when contacted by Mark Henry via social media about a WWE tryout.

In a recent interview with "Baby, This is Keke Palmer," Belair revealed Henry noticed her flair for showmanship while watching a video of her CrossFit competition.

"When I got into CrossFit, I was like, 'I'm gonna have fun with this,'" Belair said. "So I started making my own outfits, I started grabbing the microphone talking to the crowd, and turning flips before [the competitions]. Mark Henry saw a video of me and he was like, 'Have you ever thought about being in WWE? Because you have the looks, the personality, the athleticism — it's a perfect fit.'"

It was around this time that Belair started watching "Total Divas" and caught the wrestling bug. Soon enough, she attended two WWE tryouts and landed a contract with the sports entertainment juggernaut.

"I had no idea what I was getting myself into," Belair admitted. "I walked in, I didn't know how to do a headlock, a wristlock, or any of the moves." Belair added she had "no idea about the history of the business" when she joined WWE.

"People think WWE is just about doing flips," she said. "But it's also the performance part. You have to draw people in, tell stories, have feuds ... and you have to do all this on live TV."