Shayna Baszler describes how her tag team run with Ronda Rousey came about.
Baszler and Rousey won the vacant WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship on the May 29 episode of WWE RAW. The match was Rousey and Baszler’s first match as a duo since the Women’s WrestleMania Showcase match at WrestleMania 39.
In an interview with Peter Rosenberg on the Cheap Heat podcast, Baszler recalled how the duo teaming up together was something that Rousey demanded, as “The Baddest Woman on the Planet” went to the office and put her foot down.
“Ronda is Ronda, right. She’s been main title, she main-evented WrestleMania. She still gets one of the loudest pops when we walk out,” Baszler said. “This was something she demanded. We’d been asking for it forever, but she finally put her foot down and went to the office and said, ‘Listen, we’ve been asking for this forever. You keep telling us, ‘After, after, after this [and] this.’
“I honestly don’t know if she hadn’t done that, if they ever would have got to it. I wasn’t in a position yet to be elevated to a Ronda level, so the fact that Ronda said, ‘No, stop. I’ve done this. I want to do this because this is why I started wrestling.’ So I think that’s huge. She could be main-eventing SummerSlam. She doesn’t have to be where she is, which is elevating these titles.”
Baszler went on to describe how she appreciated the way Rousey demanded to work with her, as it spoke to their friendship. She also pointed out that Rousey brings eyes wherever she goes.
“It’s just a direction that I don’t think they would have looked at, just because Ronda is who she is,” Rousey said. “As much as, love her or hate her, she brings eyes, and that’s the way she’s always been. She was that way in MMA. I at least want people to understand, this is happening because she demanded it. She demanded to work with me as a friend, so it’s cool to have someone who truly isn’t out for themselves. In show business, that’s so rare, so it’s very cool.”
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