Shayna Baszler is taking a veteran’s approach to her new partnership with Zoey Stark.
Baszler spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about working with Zoey Stark on WWE TV. The two were originally opponents in a 5-way match at Crown Jewel in October 2023. Now, they’ve moved on to create a formidable and funny tag team on WWE RAW.
Baszler said Stark has some tendencies that rub her the wrong way, but they also share similar backgrounds and they’ve been able to complement each other in the ring.
“Well it’s funny. We have some shared history in our [backgrounds], as far as our coaching and our lineage. So there’s this common thread that people maybe don’t know about. However, as far as like — so Zoey impressed me because I beat the snot out of her and she kept getting back up. She would not quit. And that impressed me.
“So I decided — I don’t know how it started, I think I saw something happening and I gave her some advice [on] how to handle it backstage. And when she is not being an annoying… rookie, she’s great. I think we complement each other well in the ring. She does all the cool flying off of stuff and I’ll tear people’s limbs off. So it balances out.”
Room for improvement?
How can Zoey Stark shed that “annoying… rookie” persona and improve her stock with Baszler?
“She just needs to listen. She’s a person that’s like, she’s got to learn it on her own. But you can definitely tell I’m the vet and she’s still very much like, reading social media comments and stuff like that. And I’m just like, ‘Don’t read that crap.’ Stuff like that. Just don’t even… [She says] ‘Oh but what about… Should we go ask…’ ‘No. Just relax. Relax’ So, yeah.”
Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark recently earned a WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match against the Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane). The current champions are slated to defend against Baszler and Stark on the March 11 episode of WWE RAW.
Check out our full interview with Shayna Baszler below:
