During a recent interview with SI.com, WWE NXT women’s champion Shayna Baszler commented on her goals, WrestleMania, Ronda Rousey’s work in WWE, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On working to her goal of a WrestleMania moment: “Everybody’s goal in pro wrestling is a WrestleMania moment, and that is becoming more and more real for me, especially being on USA every week. I’m ready for that moment and I want to do it as NXT champion. When I started in professional wrestling, dreaming about how big this could get, the important thing for me was to stay true to who I am and what I’ve been brought up in. That’s the style I learned and that’s the style I love. I’m excited that it was the right time and right place. It’s the perfect time to bring this no-nonsense realism to wrestling.”
On Ronda Rousey’s work in WWE: “Ronda’s work in WWE was the same thing she did in MMA. I was fighting long before Ronda, and I could drop all sorts of names of girls that could be known as ‘the best’ women’s MMA fighter of all-time, except no one knows them. No one brought eyes to MMA like Ronda did. She was the perfect storm of ingredients to bring eyes to mixed martial arts, and that snowballed into bringing eyes to professional wrestling. For me, I wouldn’t have fit into any other era in WWE, but Ronda’s success in MMA said this could be done.”
On paying respects to her late coach Billy Robinson when she gets in the ring: “That’s very important to me. When you see me enter the ring, I pause at the ring steps and point to the sky. That’s my reminder. When I first started wrestling, Josh Barnett, who was my main coach for most of my MMA career, said to me, ‘If Billy can look down and watch your match, then in the end, you did a good job.’ So that point is me paying respect to Billy, and I still ask whether he’ll be rolling in his grave or whether he’d be proud of this. So that is a reminder to stay true to myself.”
On never looking past her next opponent: “I would be remiss to miss this moment and look too far ahead. I need to concentrate on my place in NXT as the women’s champion. I’m very lucky to be here at this time in pro wrestling. The rise in popularity of mixed martial arts is important, too, because the style I bring is a lot more recognizable, the time is perfect for a style like mine to come into play.”
