Subscribe
Follow Us
How do you make Shayna Baszler, a borderline career heel who repeatedly discusses her enjoyment of inflicting pain and punishment on other performers via her expansive collection of submission maneuvers, a babyface? Do you give her a superhero gimmick like Nikki ASH? Have her take sympathy one an underdog and form a new tag team? Or maybe she has a change of heart for one reason or another, accepting that the way she's handled her business thus far simply will never breed prolonged main roster success?
Or, hear me out on this one, you have her turn on arguably the most hated heel in all of WWE, Ronda Rousey, and get fans to cheer on her violent ways being used to respectable ends.
Sitting down for an interview with Fox 18 ahead of her “fight” with the “Baddest Woman on the Planet” at SummerSlam, Baszler explained how Rousey ruined her love of professional wrestling and how she is going to use that as motivation to kick her you-know-what at the biggest show of the summer.
“I'm not denying that Ronda is history-making. She's one of the best fighters that's ever come along, she changed the landscape for women in fighting. Dana White himself said women were never going to be in the UFC. She's the one that changed it for us. I don't deny all that. I was fighting almost a decade before. It would be easy for me to whine and cry about how MMA was, and she got noticed, and all this, but that doesn't bother me at all because she's Ronda, right?” Shayna Baszler said.
“So on our team, as far as MMA goes, she was our leader, she was the face of our team, and I didn't have a problem with that. As it comes to professional wrestling, I'm the one that made her fall in love with that. I'm the one that got signed first. She saw how happy I was. She said it herself in interviews. She saw how happy I was and wanted to give it a try. She has come to me for advice as it comes to pro wrestling. So, as far as wrestling and WWE is concerned, it should be me that's the leader. It should be me that's the face. This is my thing. When I was in NXT, and Ronda was separate from me doing her own thing, I had a lot of success. I had probably the most dominant run with that title. I had no problems. It just seems like ever since she's come back. I've just been her sidekick. She's done nothing to change that. She's done nothing to give me a push forward and say, ‘This is Shayna's thing.'”
Did Rousey sort of piggyback on Baszler's transition from UFC to WWE? Maybe yes, maybe no; WWE likely would have had an interest in Rousey whether they employed Baszler or not because of her absolutely transcendent star power coming off of an incredible UFC run, and she was used as a main eventer while Baszler was still tagging with Nia Jax in the midcard as a result. Still, after watching fans largely reject Rousey during this current run, leaning into that has the potential to get Baszler over in a big way, especially if she accomplishes her goal at SummerSlam.
Article Continues Below
Shayna Baszler knows she's in for a mental and physical fight at SummerSlam.
Turning her attention to the actual task at hand, Shayna Baszler noted that taking care of business against Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam is going to be easier said than done, as the duo know their in-ring abilities inside and out and thus will force each other to their limits to see who has the physical and mental resolve to hold their arm up high after the 1-2-3.
“As far as physically and in the ring, we know each other inside out. Every day, our job was to go to the gym and fight each other. We were sparring partners. So going into it, knowing that every advantage I have against her, she also has against me. So really, this game-planning has been just really changing my mentality, trying to train my mind to get to this different stage of intensity because, as I said before, even if I win, it's gonna hurt, she's gonna cause me a lot of pain, I'm gonna cause her a lot of pain. No one's coming out of this unscathed, win or lose. So, it's understanding that and accepting that,” Baszler said.
“Anyone that's played sports understands if you roll your ankle at home, working in the garden, that hurts, and it puts you out for the day, but in the middle of a game, you get to a different place mentally, and you can fight through that,” she adds. “So it's just being able to flip that switch on command when I need to. So really, the training and the game-planning has been all about getting to that different level of mentality.”
Will Baszler come out on top at SummerSlam? More likely than not yes, as Rousey reportedly has an out date with WWE before her contract expires. Still, if WWE plays their cards right, there's a chance Baszler could leave the contest with an incredibly elevated status heading into the fall, which would be an awesome addition to the WWE Universe, as Rhea Ripley is getting desperate for new opponents for the WWE Women's World Championship.
