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And just like that, there were one; in a little over 10 minutes on SmackDown, Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler silenced any doubts about their WWE future both individually and as a tag team by putting down the dynamic duo of Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn, better known as The Unholy Union, to become the Undisputed WWE Women's Tag Team Champions.
Though the match didn't end in a complete and total moral victory, as after attempting to speak some Spanish at Raquel Rodriguez, Rousey and Baszler found themselves face to face with a returning Liv Morgan, the former MMA fighters still left the Cajundome with the WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Titles in their bags and all of the benefits that presents them within the WWE Universe.
But now that Rousey and Baszler are technically the NXT champions, even if the company may ultimately merge the two titles into one new belt, doesn't mean the duo will actually make their way down to developmental to wrestle any one of the teams on the roster, right? Sure, there are a few intriguing options, especially if Shawn Michaels were to reunite Toxic Attraction, but would Paul “Triple H” Levesque actually send the duo down to Orlando to wrestle them?
Well, according to Dave Meltzer, that idea is very much on the table, as he noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“There are plans for more major stars to work NXT like Rollins did this week,” Meltzer said via E Wrestling news. “One name that was at least talked about was Rousey, or perhaps even having Rousey & Baszler defend the women’s tag titles there. But the goal is to use the main roster stars to increase the ratings, and the Rollins experiment was a huge success, so when something works in wrestling the idea is that you usually follow up on it.”
If WWE's goal is t0 get more eyes on NXT to help field a strong package ahead of media rights negotiations in 2024 then having Rousey and Baszler appear on Tuesday nights might not actually be the worst idea, as both performers are still very popular outside of WWE and could bring in a few eyes that might not regularly watch the product as a result. Still, that doesn't matter if Morgan and Rodriguez take the titles first, which means the Horsewomen need to keep their heads on a swivel just in case.
Shayna Baszler discusses if she would wrestle Ronda Rousey for a singles strap.
Appearing on WrestleRant Radio to help promote her tag team championship run with Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler was asked why she has never challenged her current partner for a title in WWE or the other way around.
While some may assume that Baszler wouldn't want to wrestle Rousey, that actually isn't the case; if given an opportunity to wrestle each other for a title, Baszler actually believes it would be disrespectful for the duo not to throw down, they just haven't gotten a chance to tell that story yet.
“I mean, we've talked about — so in Combat Sports, it's kind of this rule in MMA or amateur wrestling, Jujitsu, whatever — It's kind of a thing where if I have the title, and my teammate works their way up through tournament and takes out everyone and earns their spot, as my friend, it would be disrespectful for me to deny them that or to refuse to give them that opportunity. “It's almost offensive if the person bows out like, ‘Oh, she's my teammate. I'm not gonna be –‘ like, ‘Wait, you don't think I have I can defend against you, what's up?'” said Baszler said via Fightful.
“We have talked about how that story hasn't really been told in a pro wrestling sense. It's always like someone angry turning, whatever. A miscue, that's whatever it is, but the story of how combat sports is, I think there's an opportunity and untouched story along that path as well. All that being said, you know, we have these [the Women's Tag Titles] to defend. If that comes along, you know, that comes along. It's not like — I don't know, we'll see what happens. Like I said, we don't want to be stuck in that mode where we have these so we're not looking at the singles titles anymore. So we'll see what happens.”
Is there a world where, once they lose the tag team titles, Rousey and Baszler turn on each other and ultimately wrestle for a singles title, likely with the latter taking the strap off of the former to become a solo champion for the first time in her WWE main roster career? Most definitely but first, Baszler may have to return to Orlando to do some work on those pesky NXT ratings.