Bianca Belair has announced on Instagram that she is scheduled for finger surgery this Monday, nearly a year after suffering the injury at WrestleMania 41. During her highly praised triple threat match for the WWE Women’s World Championship against Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY, her hand was crushed when Ripley landed on it, breaking one of her knuckle joints. Initially expected to heal in 8-12 weeks, the damage has kept her sidelined from wrestling ever since, with her only making a brief guest referee appearance at Evolution in 2025.
36-year-old Belair is a former All-American track athlete who signed with WWE in 2016 and later debuted in NXT. She rose to stardom by winning the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble and main-eventing WrestleMania 37, defeating Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, only the second time women had headlined WrestleMania. She later held the Raw Women’s Championship for a record 420 days, fully establishing her as one of WWE’s biggest modern-day stars.
