WWE couple Bianca Belair and Montez Ford share ‘rawest of the raw details’ in new show

This story was originally published Jan. 25, ahead of WWE's Royal Rumble event. Bianca Belair and Montez Ford's new series, "Love & WWE," premieres on Hulu on Feb. 2.

The Bianca Belair and Montez Ford you see in their upcoming reality series are not the Bianca Belair and Montez Ford you see on WWE television — and that’s sort of the point.

Just watch the opening seconds of a trailer for “Love & WWE: Bianca & Montez,” during which the married couple and WWE superstars are seen bickering in their home.

“Every time I’m in the kitchen, you’re in the kitchen,” Belair, a multiple-time women’s champion, says, flashing her hands and moving her head for emphasis.

“This is my house too!” an incredulous Ford, sandwich in hand, shoots back, as Belair chuckles. “I pay for a fourth of the bills around here.”

The playful back-and-forth speaks to one of their goals for “Love & WWE,” which premieres Feb. 2 on Hulu: to pull the curtain back on their lives and show viewers who they are away from the wrestling ring, as husband and wife.

A husband and wife who like to tease each other, whether it be in their kitchen, or during a recent conversation with TODAY.com. When asked in the interview how similar they are to the characters they portray on WWE programming, Ford (real name Kenneth Crawford) answers, “It’s night and day for me. Complete night and day. It’s not the same person that you see in the WWE ring. … The person you see in real life, the person you see on this reality TV show, that’s the real Montez Ford.”

Belair (Bianca Blair Crawford) interjects, with impeccable delivery, “That’s a lie. I’ll tell you the truth.” At this, Ford lets out a hearty laugh.

“Who everyone sees in the ring is Montez Ford — the wild, crazy, charismatic guy full of joy, that’s who I get at home 24/7,” she says. “He’s waking up in the morning, singing and yelling at 7 o’clock in the morning. He’s full of joy. He is my personal hype man.”

Belair then proceeds to describe herself as shy and more laid-back, which might come as a surprise to those who’ve seen her on TV call herself the “EST of WWE,” as in the strongest, fastest, quickest and toughest.

Ford uses another “est” word to compliment his wife: “She’s the hardest-working person. We both work extremely hard, and we both push each other — you know, iron sharpens iron.”

But he also encourages her to enjoy the special moments in their lives.

“We spend a lot of time together. We work together, we travel together, we live together,” Belair explains. “We have this amazing life that we get to experience together in WWE, but he’s the person that’s always telling me it’s quality over quantity. We spend a lot of time together, but we need quality time, and the show really shows how we try to balance working together but trying to find time to have that quality time together.”

Then, alluding to the dizzying life on the road with WWE, she quips, “You know, a lot of dates at continental breakfasts.”

Belair, a former track star with the University of Tennessee, and Ford, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, met early on in their WWE careers and tied the knot in 2018. Since then, they’ve established themselves as bona fide stars with the company. During one memorable stretch in 2021, Belair won the women’s Royal Rumble match and went on to defeat Sasha Banks in what was the first WrestleMania main event to feature two Black women. On Jan. 22, she was named one of the cover stars for the WWE 2K24 video game.

Ford is an athletic high-flyer who’s one-half of the former tag team champions the Street Profits. Though he’s knocked on the door of singles stardom at times, the “Love & WWE” trailer hints at dissatisfaction he’s felt with the trajectory of his character.

“My wife, third straight year, WrestleMania. For me, it’s the third straight year of trying to figure out where I fit in,” he says at one point. “I’m not just Bianca Belair’s husband.”

Ford tells TODAY.com Belair is the one person he confides in about work frustrations.

“She helps me, like, navigate and kind of like bring me middle ground and give different insight — we do that with each other a lot — but just give insight on the situation and what it is to just be patient,” he says.

After listing some of her accomplishments, he continues, “This is her time now, and this is going to be her time for a long time. And for me to accept that — I know my time is coming. I don’t have to not be supportive or I don’t have to not be engaged, but also be patient and just keep working.”

“We hear some couples say, ‘When we go home, we turn it off. We have a rule where there’s no wrestling talk.’ We don’t have that rule,” Belair shares. “Because when we’re home, if something’s bothering him, something’s bothering me, I want to talk about it. And we talk about wrestling so much, even when we’re home. We bounce ideas off of each other. If he’s going through something, we have this thing where we allow each other to vent and validate each other’s feelings. But then it’s like, OK, now I’m going to push you to get out of this rut. Like, what do we do about it?”

As Belair points out in their reality show, life in WWE is “crazy and nonstop,” with no offseason. Working on “Love & WWE” made their schedules that much busier. They were presented with the idea for the show a few years ago and filmed for six months in 2023, with a focus on WrestleMania season. Typically from Friday through Monday they’d work WWE events and film their show on the other days.

“It’s rewarding, but it was very, very exhausting,” Belair says.

Before launching on the show, Belair and Ford spoke with colleagues who’ve starred on the previous WWE-themed series “Total Divas” and “Miz and Mrs” to learn about their experiences in front of the reality TV cameras. They then set out to put their own stamp on the genre for WWE.

“We want to give (fans) something a little bit more different than what they’ve seen before, which is us, the rawest of the raw details,” Ford says.

The timing of “Love & WWE” is fitting, given that WWE will soon begin its build to this year’s WrestleMania, scheduled for April 6 and 7 in Philadelphia. The road to WrestleMania starts this Saturday, Jan. 27, with the Royal Rumble event in St. Petersburg, Florida, highlighted by the men’s and women’s matches of the same name. Each match begins with two superstars in the ring; every 90 seconds thereafter, a new superstar enters. Superstars are eliminated from the match when they are tossed over the top rope and onto the floor. The last person standing in each match earns a championship opportunity at WrestleMania.

If the Royal Rumble match sounds like it can get chaotic (in a good way), well, you’re right.

“It’s probably one of the most complicated matches I’ve ever been a part of,” Belair says. “There’s a lot that goes into it. But that’s why it’s one of the most exciting matches of the year.”

Looking ahead to WrestleMania, Belair offers a few ideas for potential opponents for herself, including Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley and WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky (who defeated Belair for the title last summer).

She then floats the possibility of joining her husband; his tag team partner, Angelo Dawkins; and their ally Bobby Lashley for a match against Ripley and her pals in her faction, the Judgment Day, which includes Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Finn Balor and Damian Priest.

“She said it!” Ford exclaims, endorsing his wife’s suggestion. “It would be colossal.”

The Royal Rumble will stream live on Peacock beginning 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Saturday, Jan. 27. Kickoff starts at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. (Peacock is owned by TODAY.com’s parent company, NBCUniversal.) The first eight episodes of “Love & WWE: Bianca and Montez” will be released on Hulu on Friday, Feb. 2.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com