Bianca Belair's WWE WrestleMania 39 Opponent Revealed

The EST will be defending the Raw Women's Title against...

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 Carmella Asuka
WWE.com

WWE Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair will be defending that prize against Asuka at WrestleMania 39.

The Empress of Tomorrow was victorious in the titular women's bout at last night's Elimination Chamber PLE.

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There, Asuka bested Carmella, Raquel Rodriguez, Nikki Cross, Liv Morgan and Natalya to earn herself a shot at the EST at this year's Showcase of the Immortals.

In that Chamber match, Asuka picked up three eliminations on her way to victory, last eliminating Carmella via the Asuka Lock after having also played a part in pinning Rodriquez and submitting Morgan. Of course, it was already established ahead of time that the winner of this match would be facing Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 39 over the weekend of 1 and 2 April.

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This will be the first televised singles match between Belair and Asuka since the 30 May 2022 episode of WWE Raw, with Bianca coming out on top on that night. The pair's only other one-on-one TV encounter was earlier that same month, though that match was brought to a halt after just three minutes due to interference from Becky Lynch.

Elsewhere at Elimination Chamber, Romans Reigns retained the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Sami Zayn, Theory retained the United States Title in the men's Chamber offering, Edge and Beth Phoenix bested Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley, and Bobby Lashley got a lame DQ win over Brock Lesnar in the PLE's opening contest.

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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.