This past Saturday night at WWE SummerSlam, Shayna Baszler went to war with Ronda Rousey in an MMA Rules match, ultimately coming out on top after making the UFC Hall of Famer tap out. It was arguably the biggest win of Baszler’s WWE career, and with Rousey’s WWE future somewhat in question, she has now assumed the moniker of Baddest Woman on The Planet. The bout was also one of only two women’s matches on the card, a fact that was highlighted during the weekend as pro wrestling fans debated the attention the WWE and AEW women’s divisions are receiving.
The subject of the state of women’s wrestling was kick-started last week when LuFisto did an interview with Fightful discussing her experience working an AEW Dark match. Among her many criticisms of the experience was the perception that Tony Khan was moving the division back to the “Divas Era” and that there were harmful politics taking place, naming Britt Baker and Ruby Soho, specifically. About a day later, many female members of the AEW roster, and MJF, took to social media to dispute what LuFisto said. She eventually deleted her X account after receiving multiple harassing messages.
At the WWE SummerSlam media junket, I had a chance to ask Baszler about the discourse that was going on around women’s wrestling and how she feels about the state of the WWE women’s division.
“Obviously, we’re never satisfied,” she began. “We want matches and time and everything else that everyone on the show wants. But it’s hard to not argue that the story is going on right now. And here’s the thing about pay-per-view and TV and whatever. Smackdown, they’re getting 2 million viewers or more, and you’re gonna get views. If you’re on a pay-per-view, if you’re on TV, it’s gonna get views.
“So it’s really just about getting out there and being allowed to tell your story, and we’re always fighting for more for the women. We’ve come so far, you know? We’ve come a long ways and we have a long ways to go, but just know that we’re all we’re all fighting for it. We’re all, from the people you think are not, top to bottom, everyone’s fighting for it.”
My full interview with Baszler was included as part of yesterday’s Haus of Wrestling episode, now available on Premier Streaming Network and the Haus of Wrestling podcast feed. It can also be found on the Haus of Wrestling YouTube channel.
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