After having some fun in a five-on-five game of war at Survivor Series, Bianca Belair has to get back to the business of defending her RAW Women's Championship, the title she's held since April, but who in the WWE Universe deserves the next shot at The EST? Could it be Bayley? Maybe, but after two-straight losses, that feels rather blasé. How about Becky Lynch, who initially suffered the separated shoulder that put her on the shelf in the ring with Belair at SummerSlam? Paul “Triple H” Levesque has been all about bringing back former talent since becoming the head of WWE creative – could Mandy Rose's release last a matter of days before turning things around and returning her to the fray?

Fortunately, WWE won't have to do too much backseat booking – from a Kayfabe sense, of course – to find out, as Levesque unleashed a sort of mini-tournament to decide on Belair's new challenger, with Bayley and Alexa Bliss advancing to the semi-finals to decide on the new #1 contender. Initially starting things off at a disadvantage, with Bayley enlisting the services of her Damage CTRL pals, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY, Lynch evened the odds and ran the duo out of the arena, leaving Bliss to go it alone against her long-time opponent in their 201st appearance in the ring together, according to Cagematch

From there, the match came down to a battle of wills between Bliss and Bayley, and, in a truly appreciated twist of bliss fate, fans won't be treated to Belair-Bayley III, at least not anytime soon, as The EST will instead have to go to the mat with her WarGames partner. Sounds easy enough, right, a friendly bout between two long-time pals? One would think so, yes… at least until Bliss dipped Belair down and hinted at hitting the Sister Abigail moments after Bray Wyatt's logo flashed on the screen.

Spooky? You bet; it's hard to decide which performer, Belair or Bliss, looked more frightened after the interaction. Still, Byron Saxton made his way to the back to ask Belair about the prospects of wrestling her friend for the RAW Women's Championship, and needless to say, she had a lot on her mind.

“Um, yeah, sorry, just trying to still wrap my mind around what just happened, you know?” Belair said. “I’m very happy for Alexa, I was happy, you know Bayley, we’ve gone through this over and over, and she won’t go away, and Alexa actually won tonight in the right way, she deserved it.”

“And we’ve gotten close over these past few months, and we were working partners, we won together. And yeah, so I was definitely the happiest for her tonight, but yeah, she showed me a side of her that I have no words for it. I’m still trying to figure out what that was, is this what it’s going to be? Is this a phase? We’ll have to see, but you know what, at the end of the day, we’re competitors. So once we step in the ring, there are no friends, and I have to remember that. So, you know, the next time we step in the ring, I have to show her why I’m the EST of WWE, and we’re gonna compete. But that’s not going to happen again.”

Is Belair ready to wrestle Bliss for the belt? Potentially so, but the prospects of wrestling Sister Abigale, or whatever Bliss would go by in a post-Uncle Howdy world, is a completely different and much more challenging endeavor entirely.

Belair still wasn't feeling right during her appearance on WWE's The Bump.

Making an appearance on The Bump after finishing up her RAW duties, Belair was asked by Matt Camp and company how she feels about wrestling Bliss for the RAW Women's Championship after having experience together in the Elimination Chamber. While Belair was happy to reply, it's clear the prospects of wrestling Bliss has put lots on “The EST's” mind.

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Bayley with a text bubble reading "She's once in a lifetime" next to Rhea Ripley with the WrestleMania 40 logo as the background.

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Bayley next to the blacked-out silhouette of Trish Stratus with the WrestleMania 40 logo as the background.

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“I'm very excited. This actually goes back further than Elimination Chamber, my very first Royal Rumble that I was in, Alexa was the first entrant, and I was number two, and I actually eliminated her in that Rumble,” Bianca Belair said h/t Sportskeeda. “So we go back way further than we were in Elimination Chamber together. We were the final two, and I defeated her to go to WrestleMania. Now this is all kind of making sense right now.”

“Maybe this has been in the back of her head, and this is all coming together for me right now. It's exciting, but she has a lot of she might have a lot of like pent-up frustration that she's been harboring, you know, holding onto during, and it's all coming out right now.”

Could Belair's title reign come to an end at the expense of her long-time in-ring pal? Or is even the Sister Abigail not a strong enough move to take down The EST and give WWE a new champion? Fortunately, fans will find out soon enough.