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EXCLUSIVE: Jade Cargill vs. Bianca Belair is Inevitable But Focus Is On The WWE Women's Tag Team Division

Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair will defend their Women's Tag Team Championships on 9/9 episode of Raw

Rick Ucchino

Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair welcome all challengers for their Women's Tag Titles
Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair welcome all challengers for their Women's Tag Titles /

It is fight night in Calgary, Alberta, Canada as the Scotiabank Saddledome is home to tonight's season premiere of Monday Night Raw.

WWE Hall of Famer Bret 'The Hitman' Hart will make a special appearance, a new No. 1 Contender for the Intercontinental Championship will be crowned and the new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions will be putting their gold on the line as Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair take on the Unholy Union. A rematch from Bash in Berlin where Cargill & Belair won the titles for the second time.

On Monday morning, Belair and Cargill spoke to The Takedown on SI about their goals for the WWE Women's Tag Team Division, working on innovative tag team offense, not worrying about an inevitable match with one another and more.

(Editor's note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Takedown on SI: You've got your WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles back now and at the Bash in Berlin press conference you said you want to do things for the Women’s Tag Team Division that have never been done before. What does that vision look like in your eyes?

Jade Cargill: "Elevating the division. Having fans wanting us more on PLE’s. Showcasing more storylines. Just the demand. Having more of a demand for us and having the fanbase go crazy when we're not on these PLE's and we don't have these storylines and we're not on TV as much. Showcasing not just us, but the entire Tag Team Division."

Bianca Belair: "Yeah, definitely. I think that we have an amazing roster and I think the Tag Team Division is amazing. If you look at all the tag teams, all the women are very talented. Across Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and just to be able to highlight that and have these fans invest into these storylines and invest into these feuds. You look at the Bloodline and see what they're doing."

"Street Profits have been a dominant, consistent tag team on the men's side. We want dominant consistent tag teams in the Women's Division that are forced to reckon with, so that when we get to WrestleMania you can have a Women's Tag Team Title Match that has been talked about all year long. And it's not just women being thrown together and paired together just for WrestleMania, but these are women that have formed a bond, that have been established and that are true opponents."

"We're just looking to elevate this division and have it be one of the main talking points. Let a tag team be the face of WWE. I've been fortunate enough to feel like I'm one of the faces of WWE, as a singles competitor, but have a Women's Tag Team be the face of WWE. I look at things Beth Phoenix and Nattie did as a tag team and how you look back in history and you remember them as a tag team, and as singles too, but as a tag team. And I want people to look at Jade and I, and remember our tag team as a force to be reckoned with and something that goes down in the history books as doing amazing things. Along with everyone else in this tag division."

SI: I was going to say that the well is as deep as it's ever been in the Women's Tag Team Division, especially with Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn. I think those two are just scratching the surface of what they're going to accomplish on the main roster. And you seem to have pretty good chemistry with them. Would you agree?

Jade: “Yes. You gotta have great competitors and those two women are stellar athletes. They're stellar wrestlers. They've been on the indies for years. They know exactly what they're doing.”

Bianca: “People saw how great of competitors they were in our last title match against them at Bash in Berlin. And that's what we wanna show. Anytime we step in the ring with someone, we wanna come out on top, but we also wanna let the fans see what our competitors can do and let the fans see that they are amazing opponents. But we still wanna come out on top with the titles (laughs).”

SI: Absolutely. And the chemistry that you two have, it feels like it was almost instantaneous. But at the same time, I can tell you guys have been putting in work together. You have a really innovative double team finish. What was the process of coming up with that? And how often are you guys in the lab working on what you guys can do? Because the two of you together can do things that not many other teams can do. It's a borderline crime the way y’all throw these girls around.

Jade: “It's like a light bulb [aha moment]. It just happens. We'll study. We're like, okay, well this person does this. We're not gonna let them do it to us this time. We're gonna put them into this, so we can do this out of it. I would say it's more of a light bulb. Wouldn't you say that?”

Bianca: "Yeah. I know when we first found out that we were gonna be in a tag team, the very first thing that we did was we met that week at the PC and we got in the ring. My husband was there, he was there helping us. 'Cause I always lean on him because he's part of the Street Profits. He's in one of the best tag teams that have been around. And we started working on just different moves and putting our heads together. What move do you do? What are your strengths? Okay, you're strong and I'm strong too, but I can do the athletic stuff. So let's try to blend that together. And we were just working on different things. We have some moves that we haven't even brought out yet. When we were working on our finish and it wasn't even meant to be our finish.”

Jade: "Not at all."

Bianca: "It looked so devastating that [people] were like, no that's your finish (laughs all around).

Jade: "Our actual finish then, is probably something over the moon. If you would think about it."

SI: Is there a chance we see some of those new moves on tonight's season premiere of Monday Night Raw?

Bianca: "We'll have to see. I knew that [Isla and Alba] weren't gonna go away. I know that they got a little taste of what it felt like to be Tag Team Champions, and we cut that short for them. So, I know that they're gonna bring everything that they have. Usually I like for opponents to play our game, but I know they're gonna bring everything they have. And so we are just trying to be as prepared as possible for whatever they throw at us. We just have to see what they have to bring and we'll see what we need to bring out."

SI: It is a new era for WWE. All the shows this week are on the USA network. The FOX partnership officially came to an end on Friday. I know you've spent time on both brands Bianca, but you were drafted to SmackDown. You won the Royal Rumble and the main event of WrestleMania as part of the SmackDown roster under that FOX brand. Getting to wrestle on FOX, on the consistently highest rated show in wrestling, how impactful has that been on your career?

Bianca: "That jump started my career. I was new, so I went on there and I was able to introduce myself to that audience. That was the first audience that got to know me. I got to go on FOX, where there’s a huge fanbase, and I think that that was a huge part of my success here. I feel like FOX holds a very special place in my heart and we got to do a lot of cool partnerships and collaborations through FOX. It was amazing. I feel like I got to put my stamp on the time that SmackDown was on FOX."

SI: One final quick one here, because I know I'm short on time. As often as you guys get asked about fighting one another, is it more annoying or is it more flattering that people want to see you guys throw fists (This was a lighthearted question, ask away my fellow media colleagues)?

Jade: ”Oh my gosh. I would say it's annoying, because just be happy for the success we have right now. That we're working together, that we're building up these tag team titles. We hear it all the time. I mean, what do you guys want us to say? But we need to focus on the now and just us progressing and building up this tag team division.”

Bianca: “Yeah. We want people to get invested into what we're doing now. We almost feel like sometimes you're cutting yourself short and you're not allowing yourself to get invested into this because you're looking forward, way ahead. Let us do amazing things. Let us make magic work. Of course it's WWE. It's inevitable. Maybe it'll happen down the line, but until then, just let us be us. We just did an interview and they gave us the best analogy. It's like when you get in a relationship and imagine all your friends say, ‘Oh, I just can't wait till you guys break up.’”

Advertised card for 9/9 Monday Night Raw:

  • Appearance by WWE Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart
  • Drew McIntyre to address his attack on CM Punk
  • Dominik Mysterio vs. Dragon Lee
  • 8-Person Street Fight: Wyatt Sicks vs. American Made
  • Zelina Vega, Lyra Valkyria & a Mystery Partner vs. Pure Fusion Collective
  • WWE Intercontinental Title No. 1 Contenders Match: Jey Uso vs. Pete Dunne vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. Braun Strowman
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill (c) vs. Unholy Union

Raw gets underway live tonight at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network. WWE has also announced that the entire first hour of the season premiere will be free of commercial interruption.

You can follow Rick Ucchino on X and on Instagram: @RickUcchino

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Rick Ucchino

RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino has been covering professional wrestling since 2019, but his broadcast career has spanned over 15 years. He can be heard every weekday morning on 700WLW radio in Cincinnati, OH. You can also read his work over on SI's Cincinnati Reds Talk. Follow Rick on X and Instagram: @RickUcchino

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