WWE Star Bianca Belair Is Named Top Woman Grappler

Bianca Belair’s historic emergence as one of WWE’s top female competitors will include yet another honor.

The former University of Tennessee track star topped the 2021 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Women’s 150 list, PWI contributing writer Kristen Ashly revealed during an appearance on Renee Paquette’s podcast.

Belair won the women’s Royal Rumble match at its namesake pay-per-view event to earn a title shot at WrestleMania 37 against then-SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, with both becoming the first Black women to compete in the main event at WrestleMania, which later won an ESPY award for ‘Best WWE Moment.’

Belair defeated Banks and held the title for four consecutives months before dropping it to a returning Becky Lynch, who had vacated her RAW Women’s Championship after announcing she was pregnant with her first child.

World Series Game 2: Astros Beat Braves 7-2

Just as the Braves piled on early in Game 1, the Astros jumped on Atlanta right from the get-go in Game 2. Jose Altuve scored following a leadoff double when Alex Bregman lifted a sacrifice fly; a huge four-run second inning, with RBIs coming on hits from Jose Siri, Martin Maldonado and Michael Brantley, put Houston out to a commanding 5-1 lead.

The Astros tacked on two more runs later in the game, and the Braves never could catch back up as Houston evened the series at one win each with a 7-2 victory on Wednesday.

While the Astro bats came out in force, it was also a strong start by Jose Urquidy that helped quiet an Atlanta offense that scored six in Game 1. Urquidy pitched five innings and allowed just two runs on six hits while striking out five. His counterpart, Max Fried, allowed six runs on seven hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out six.

Braves Beat Astros 6-2 in World Series Opener

Jorge Soler, who appeared in only the final two games of the NLCS as a pinch hitter after missing several games due to a positive COVID-19 test, didn’t show any rust in his first at-bat in Game 1 of the World Series.

On the third pitch of the night, he became the first player ever to lead off the World Series with a home run. Atlanta added another in the first, one more in the second and two more on an Adam Duvall homer in the third to take an early 5-0 lead in Houston.

The Astros were able to scratch across a pair after Braves’ ace Charlie Morton was forced to exit the game with a fractured right fibula, but the Braves bullpen still held them to just two runs across the final six innings of the game as Atlanta won Game 1 of the World Series 6-2.