There are lots of strong ladies in WWE, but just one of them used to fight in a cage for a livelihood.
Shayna Andrea Baszler is a former mixed martial fighter and a WWE professional wrestler. Her work with WWE is her most well-known contribution. She is a former WWE Tag Team Champion and a two-time NXT Women’s Champion. She holds the company’s record for the longest reigning NXT Women’s Champion.
The Queen of Spades is a real pioneer of women’s mixed martial arts and a member of the MMA Four Horsewomen group with Ronda Rousey. Ex-UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett and British wrestling legend Billy Robinson both taught Baszler how to do catch wrestling, which is both traditional and modern at the same time.
The South Dakota native completed her training in 2015 and started wrestling for Ring of Honor. She competed for a variety of indie organizations before to signing with WWE, including Shimmer, AIW, QPG, Premier Wrestling, and Stardom.
In 2017, Baszler competed in the Mae Young Classic, where she lost in the finals against Kairi Sane. Baszler debuted in NXT in December. Ember Moon beat Baszler at TakeOver Philadelphia, but the rivalry remained. She won her first NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver New Orleans by defeating Moon.
She lost the championship against Kairi Sane at TakeOver Brooklyn 4 after 133 days. Baszler won her second NXT Women’s Championship in a rematch between Sane at Evolution. Her reign lasted 416 days, during which she beat Becky Lynch and Bayley at the 2019 Survivor Series. In December, she was dethroned by Ripley.
After defeating several adversaries inside the octagon, The Submission Magician elected to take her martial arts abilities to the squared circle, where they transferred flawlessly. Having won the NXT Women’s Championship twice, she still holds the record for the most days spent as the NXT Women’s Champion.
She made her main roster debut at the Royal Rumble, when she was eliminated by the eventual champion, Charlotte Flair. Baszler assaulted Becky Lynch after Rumble and thus started their animosity. She won the match in Elimination Chamber after eliminating all of her opponents. She was defeated in WrestleMania 36 by Becky Lynch.
Baszler annihilated multiple opponents on Raw with her signature Kirifuda Clutch and achieved success as a member of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions with Nia Jax. Baszler, though, was picked by SmackDown in the 2021 WWE Draft after savagely assaulting Jax and terminating the relationship.
She was picked to SmackDown at the Draft and immediately started working with Natalya. Naomi was repeatedly confronted by the pair on Sonya Deville’s orders. Currently, her and Natalya are slated to challenge Sasha Banks and Naomi for the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
The epitome of a badass. It’s remarkable how quickly she progressed to become one of the top female wrestlers. She is one of the few individuals who can apply her MMA experience to her growing knowledge of the wrestling world. Amazing storyteller, she makes the most of every second to add significance to the match. It seems as if she has become a safer worker over the previous several years. Ironically, a large number of wrestlers may now learn from her. Entering the ring with Shayna leaves you with three options: tap, snap, or nap.