Before joining the main roster in 2020, Shayna Baszler was a top star in “WWE NXT,” holding the women’s championship for a long time. She recently talked to “Insight” about how different it was to wrestle on “Raw” compared to “NXT.”
“I don’t think I understood that the main roster audience is much bigger than ‘NXT,’ and moast people don’t know who you are. There are the hardcore fans at pay-per-views, but most people watching ‘SmackDown’ and ‘Raw’ don’t watch ‘NXT.’ so that was a bit of a surprise for me.”
Baszler found it hard to connect with fans when she first moved to “Raw,” but her debut at the 2020 Royal Rumble got a reaction as the fans who knew her from “NXT” were there. She felt she needed to reintroduce herself before her WrestleMania 36 match with Becky Lynch. She also had to make sure vince McMahon, the former WWE CEO, knew who she was.
“Vince didn’t always watch ‘NXT,’ so he’d be told things like, “This is Shayna. She’s tough… She did MMA, she’s friends with Ronda Rousey.” So, he didn’t really know what I did in the ring. Even introducing myself to him was a process.”
Baszler had a great Royal Rumble, eliminating 8 competitors after entering as number 30.She was originally supposed to win, but Charlotte Flair ended up winning the match.
If you use any quotes from this article, please give credit to “Insight” and Wrestling Inc. for the transcript.
