WWE star demonstrates how broken finger ‘still won’t bend from knuckle to tip’

WWE superstar Bianca Belair has shown the extent of her ‘complicated’ recovery after breaking her fingers over three months ago.

The 36-year-old star suffered the gruesome injury during her Triple Threat match with Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky at WrestleMania 41 in April 2025, and has been out of action ever since.

Bianca, who appears in Netflix’s new docu-series WWE Unreal, returned to the ring as a special guest referee for Naomi and Jade Cargill’s match at Evolution a couple of weeks ago, but she exclusively showed Metro the extent of the the issue.

‘Right now the finger, it’s fully healed, but the problem is that it won’t bend from the knuckle to the tip,’ she said, before demonstrating on camera.

‘Trying to get in the ring to wrestle like this, it’s just sticking out there. So right now, we’re working on that aspect. So it’s been a lot more complicated than I thought. ‘We’re just sticking in there.’

The EST of WWE confirmed while the break is ‘fully healed’, now she’s focused on ‘getting the mobility back and getting it into a safe place’.

‘I’m in rehab and therapy nonstop, so we’re working on it,’ she smiled.

The pain and struggles that come with being a WWE superstar will be on full display in Unreal on Netflix, as the series gives viewers an unprecedented peek behind the curtain.

In that same spirit, Bianca opened up on how Rhea – who also features heavily in the series recounting her own injury setbacks – helped her finish the WrestleMania match.

‘I felt it immediately, but I thought I had broke all my fingers, and it took Rhea to really snap me out of that moment,’ she said. ‘I was just rolling around in pain. And she’s like, “Ay! Ay!” And I’m like, “Oh, sorry, we have to finish this match!” ‘

At one point in the documentary, Bianca – who is famous for handmaking every single one of her wrestling outfits – accidentally stabs herself with a needle as she finishes her Elimination Chamber gear at the last second.

‘I’m always poking myself with needles, and I’m anxious. It’s just crazy chaos backstage, and it’s amazing to see all that,’ she said. ‘And then when we go out there, nobody even knows the chaos that was happening.’

It’s these kinds of struggles that Bianca hopes WWE Unreal can shine a light on.

Asked which preconceptions she hopes the series can get rid of, she said: ‘The general idea of wrestling just being fake. Is it scripted? Yes, it is. But there’s so much realness that goes into it.

‘It’s a lot of hard work. It’s an engine. From the production and creative, trying to write storylines, and then injuries happen, and us having to pivot, and go with the flow.’

That’s proven true for Bianca as she recovers from her injury.

Despite the lingering issues, she recently returned as the special guest referee for the No Holds Barred match between Jade and Naomi.

‘I get more nervous refereeing than actually having a match. I’ve gained so much respect for the referees,’ she admitted, having also refereed a match between Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky earlier this year.

”You can completely mess up the match just being the referee,’ she explained, and in WWE Unreal it’s explained how the referee is essentially the bridge between the wrestlers in the ring, and the producers backstage.

‘You’re such an integral part of the matches. People, a lot of times, don’t realise that,’ Bianca pointed out, while recalling an awkward moment the first time she put on the stripes live on Monday Night Raw.

‘The battery pack kept falling out,’ she laughed. ‘At the same time as you’re trying to ref and you’re trying to count and you’re trying to make sure that you’re in the right spot, you also have people in your ear talking to you from backstage.’

These kinds of secrets being spilled are well known by diehard fans, but even they have never seen the realities of wrestling laid out like they are in WWE Unreal.

Bianca is no stranger to reality TV, but she admitted there was a certain level of nerves going into pulling back the curtain so far.

‘You’re not really your Bianca Belair character. You’re frustrated, you’re anxious, you’re nervous,’ she said. ‘It was really nerve wracking sometimes to pull that curtain back and have that camera in our face in that type of way.’

However, she hopes the end results will be a ‘newfound respect’ for wrestling – and specifically the women involved.

‘As a woman, we’re in there wrestling, just like everybody else, we’re putting on amazing matches, and showing the art and skill of what we do,’ she said.

She added: ‘I think that a new found respect is going to be had for wrestlers when this documentary comes out.’

All five episodes of WWE Unreal are coming to Netflix on July 29. Subscribers can also watch WWE SummerSlam live on August 2 and 3.

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