The former NXT Women’s Champion believes Rousey is underappreciated.
Despite their pathways from MMA into the wrestling world being vastly different, Shayna Baszler and Ronda Rousey have been tethered together for the majority of their WWE careers. The pair most recently clashed in singles competition at this year’s SummerSlam in what appears to have been Rousey’s final match for the promotion, as she’s since taken independent bookings.
Speaking recently to WrestleZone, Baszler stated that she believes some fans like to try and erase what Rousey has done for combat sports, simply because they don’t like her personally.
“I think Ronda Rousey is, I think she’s under-appreciated. I think people like to hate her for whatever reason, and it’s been that way in MMA — it’s because she doesn’t mince her words. People like to, because they don’t like her personally, they like to try to erase what she’s done for women’s sports, women’s combat sports, the UFC & WWE. They like to minimize that just because they don’t like her personally and I think that’s a shame. I might not be on the best terms [with her], but I will never deny that she did a lot for women’s combat sports. I think she’s under appreciated in some sense.”
-Shayna Baszler
Rousey is set to make her debut for Wrestling REVOLVER on November 16th in Los Angeles, California, with many eyes being on her next moves as her time with WWE appears to have come to a close.
Meanwhile, Baszler recently reached the final two during a battle royal on this past Monday’s episode of RAW to determine Rhea Ripley’s next challenger for the Women’s World Championship at Survivor Series, with Zoey Stark emerging as the victor.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the future of Ronda Rousey as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
