Shayna Baszler wants the world to take notice of her following her match this weekend at SummerSlam.
RAW Superstar Shayna Baszler recently sat down with News18 Sports. When asked if she could elaborate on her comments on RAW, where she said Ronda Rousey ruined wrestling for her, Baszler spoke about how far back this rivalry goes.
“I’m not denying that Ronda is like history-making. She’s one of the best fighters that’s ever come along,” Shayna Baszler said. “She changed the landscape for women fighting. Where Dana White himself said women were never going to be in the UFC, and she’s the one that changed it for us. I don’t deny all that. I was fighting almost a decade before her.
“So 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. 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 her 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.
Success Without Rousey
“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. And it just seems like ever since she’s come back, I’ve just been her sidekick. There’s been no effort to — she’s done nothing to change that. She’s done nothing to give me a push forward and say this is Shayna’s thing.
“And here’s the thing is that me and Ronda were the tag champs. I still say to this day I don’t think anyone was beating us for a long time. But it just came down to do I want to go another couple of years of defending these titles and being Ronda’s sidekick, or is it time to finally do my thing? Because I just knew she wasn’t gonna give me that. This is what I love to do. And I need to take that.”
SummerSlam Gameplan
When asked if it’s easier to face someone she knows very well, Baszler said it comes down to mentally preparing for a fight where no one will come out unscathed.
“Our job was to go to the gym and fight each other. We were sparring partners,” she explained. “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 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.
“No one’s coming out of this unscathed, win or lose. And so it’s understanding that and accepting that, and it takes a certain — 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. 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.”
Baszler said that everyone will have to look in her direction after she beats Rousey at SummerSlam, including Rhea Ripley.
READ MORE: Shayna Baszler: What I’m Saying About Ronda Rousey Is Real, Fans Connect To It
What do you make of Shayna Baszler’s comments? Are you looking forward to her MMA match with Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit News18 Sports with a link back to this article for the transcription.
