Shayna Baszler doesn't necessarily agree that she's "back." Instead, this current chapter of her career is a new evolution.
Baszler had rapidly climbed to the top of the title picture on WWE SmackDown; she won a gauntlet match for a shot at the SmackDown Women's Championship, and she will challenge Liv Morgan for the gold at WWE Clash at the Castle.
In an interview with Rick Ucchino of the Bleav in Pro Wrestling Podcast, Baszler was asked to share her thoughts about fans who are saying she's "back", given the way she has showcased her dominance in recent weeks. In response, she stated that this is a new evolution, and fans will find out who she is becoming.
"I think the little bit you’ve seen, this is a totally different evolution of Shayna Baszler, so it took me a second to get my footing on Raw, and I think that’s not a big secret. Millions can see that, you can log into Peacock and watch all of that. But I think, being in the tag division, I know it’s not my thing, like my bread and butter’s the singles stuff, but I think it helped me kinda find my footing. Now, that gauntlet match that night, it’s like, you know what, like it’s go time. Let’s go. Now you see, here I am. But keep watching. Definitely I’m more comfortable like being where I’m at than I was before, but rather looking at it like Shayna’s back, it’s like, ‘What is Shayna becoming?’" Baszler said.
The former NXT Women's Champion was also asked whether she thought it would take her this long to get a high-profile title shot. She responded by noting that, in the moment, she remained focused on the present throughout her run in the tag team division. Baszler noted that she had felt somewhat uncertain before the gauntlet match where she earned a title shot. Now that she has earned an opportunity, Baszler stated that she intends to make the most of it.
“I don’t know if I ever really thought the long game timeline in that sense. I’m always very hyper focused on what I’m doing. So I’m, okay, we make this agreement, I’m in the tag division, we’re gonna rule the tag division right now. Obviously the dream for anybody that gets into this business is win the title on a big show and have your moment. So it just so happens, there’s been, I don’t even think it’s as far back as 2020, but real recently, there’s been this, I don’t know, what am I doing right now? Then that gauntlet came about and it was like okay. It was like the perfect time of like, this change is about, change is in the air, this whole thing happens, and there’s a gauntlet match, and the women open SummerSlam and all this crazy stuff happened. Then like I think that very next Raw, the women were all over the show. I think they had like three matches and it was like okay, now’s the time to really get your poop in a group and get some stuff done. So yeah, regardless of how long it took, it’s happening now, and I’m not gonna waste it," she said.
Baszler was also asked about working with Triple H again, "The Father of NXT" took control of WWE Creative on July 25, and Baszler earned a title shot shortly thereafter. She made it clear that she knows the way that Triple H does things, and she was ready when her time came.
“I know Triple H. I worked under Triple H for a few years, and I just kinda know the way things go. He’s always putting new people into the stuff, and I think some new faces needed to be shown, so I knew it was the right opportunity. So luckily I’ve just stayed ready so when the time came, it worked out," she said.
Baszler recently commented on the WWE regime change and the way it has been beneficial for the women's division. You can check out her comments here.
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