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While Shayna Baszler may be most widely known for her MMA acumen, amassing a 15-11 record in the octagon before transitioning into the ring with increasing regularity from 2015 on, in WWE, “The Queen of Spades” has developed a new niche: Tag Team specialist.
Stopping by The Bump to talk all things WWE now that she's one-half of the Tag Team Champions, Baszler was asked how she's found so much success as part of a team, as she is currently in her third title reign with two different partners. In the opinion of “The Queen of Spades,” the answer is quite simple really: practice makes perfect.
“Look, I've been getting in rings with people who wanted to hurt me for, like 20 years, that’s not an exaggeration, right?” Baszler said. “I’ve been doing this whole ‘get in the ring and hurt people’ thing for a while and so I think it’s just, especially right now, so when I first won the titles, I was not familiar at all with tag teams, it was not something I did, it wasn’t not something I ever practiced before WWE. I think this shows, especially with the quickness that we got there, it just shows the growth and how comfortable I am now and it’s only going to get better. And it helps that it’s one of my best friends.”
Turning her attention to Ronda Rousey and their tag team, who are set to take part in a unification match with Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre to widdle things down to a single set of champions for all three brands, Baszler complimented her friend for not only their in-ring chemistry but also for their ability to enjoy their time together outside of it.
“I want the same thing she [Ronda] wants. We want to put more women on the scene. There's are important. They're titles, we're champions. It's long enough that it's happened where it's like, ‘Oh man, a PPV's coming up, I better find someone in the locker room to team up with. Like, get some friends! Be a team! Ronda and I have been friends for 10 years. Why is it not looked down on that everyone in the locker room only suddenly wants to work with someone when it's a pay per view opportunity? That's so opportunistic. We want to put these at the forefront. I think it gets looked past the work that I did when I held these the first time. Worked all three shows. I'm pretty sure we defended these more than anyone had in the past up to that point. But, you know, all everyone talks about is Bayley's reign with these titles and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, I've done some work with these too, and it's not stopping. We immediately defended, we immediately went after the NXT Tag Champions. There's no break in the storm that we're causing.”
Through her first two title reigns, Baszler has never been a champion for more than 120 days, with her best run with Nia Jax lasting just 112 days. Will she be able to break that number with Rousey by her side, challenging for her 416-day reign as the Women's Champion in NXT? I mean, probably not, but considering the field at the moment, 115 days feels very doable indeed.
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Shayna Baszler discusses her relationship with Ronda Rousey.
Discussing her relationship with Ronda Rousey in a special interview with Sporf, Shayna Baszler noted how she moved to LA to train with the “Rowdy” one during their MMA days and how they have remained best friends ever since.
“Man, it’s crazy. This is where it all started. I moved to LA to live with Ronda. Ronda’s one of my best friends. That’s legit. It’s not like we became friends when I joined the company or anything like that. We’re friends outside of this. We talk, we train together. So I think you can see the chemistry right away,” Baszler said.
“Even the way we talk to each other backstage, on camera. You can tell there’s a deeper rapport. Ronda’s an old friend from way back. So it’s different from NXT, where all those girls, we moved into the same house.”
Earlier this year, Corey Graves “caught some h*ll” for suggesting that WWE hasn't had a true women's tag team in quite some time, with The Iiconics the last squad he could think of with an actual team name a la the Street Profits. Though the champions at the time, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were unable to establish themselves as the team to break that trend, largely due to the former's injury, maybe Rousey and Baszler will break the trend and become that very team.
