Shayna Baszler has been main-roster material for WWE for more than a year now, and it seems that her call-up could happen sometime very soon.
In fact, she seems to be a good bet to be an entrant in the Women’s Royal Rumble on January 26 but only if she doesn’t make an appearance on Raw before the promotion’s first pay-per-view event.
Baszler, who dropped the title to Rhear Ripley last month is the former and longest reigning WWE Women’s NXT Champion. More often than not, it happens just before a star of Baszler’s caliber is elevated to the main roster.
Moreover, NXT has announced its own women’s battle royal for next week. And the winner of that match will allegedly face Ripley for her title. The women who have already been advertised as participants in the match are: Bianca Belair, Shotzi Blackheart, Candice LeRae, Chelsea Green, Dakota Kai, Kayden Carter, Vanessa Bourne, Mia Yim Io Shirai, Santana Garrett, and Xia Li.
But nowhere in the list was Baszler’s name mentioned, which is odd! Even Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer noticed this omission.
Meltzer in a statement said, “It’s interesting. No Shayna, no Jessamyn [Duke], no Marina [Shafir]. I mean it could be Jessamyn and Marina, but I’m sure no Shayna because if there was she would be mentioned. So I guess that means Shayna’s gonna be on Raw sooner than later. I always figured.”
However, Baszler’s arrival would certainly heighten the anticipation of Ronda Rousey’s return. With Baszler and Rousey, Duke and Shafir make up the Four Horsewomen. All four women alleged to have roots in mixed martial arts. There has allegedly been a potential mega storyline in the making between that group and the WWE’s original version of the concept: Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Bayley. At some point, it looks like we will have to see that feud take form.