WWE Royal Rumble: 10 Potential Winners of the Women’s Rumble
Credit: WWE.com
Shayna Baszler
When it comes to the second-annual Women’s Rumble, the proverbial dark horse has to be none other than two-time NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler. The only two-time NXT Women’s Champion in history has been nearly unstoppable in her reign atop NXT’s women’s division. While she did briefly lose the title to Kairi Sane, Baszler was able to recapture the belt at Evolution with some assistance from the MMA Four Horsewomen.
For those unaware, much how NXT’s Four Horsewomen were Bayley, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte Flair, MMA had their own version of this quartet. The MMA Four Horsewomen consisted of Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke, and Ronda Rousey. Those four women tore up the MMA scene, and Ronda Rousey is now dominating on Monday nights as the Raw Women’s Champion.
For anyone who has been impressed by Ronda Rousey’s transition to the ring, Shayna Baszler is basically the more experienced but lesser known version of Ronda Rousey. She’s got all the same submission skills and technical prowess, but spent has more MMA and wrestling experience. Rousey spent six years on the MMA circuit, while Baszler’s MMA career was just shy of a decade. Rousey had well-timed success and good timing, but Baszler has had almost double the amount of MMA fights that Rousey did. On top of all of that, she spent two years on the independent wrestling scene before coming to NXT.
Baszler entered the wrestling world in 2015 in Ring of Honor, and spent two years tearing up competition by competing for promotions like Shimmer and Stardom before entering the Mae Young Classic and making it to the finals only to lose to Kairi Sane. That was only the beginning of Baszler’s rampage, as she tore through competition without a hint of remorse on the path to her current second reign as NXT Women’s Champion. If there’s anyone who can make their main roster debut in the Royal Rumble and go all the way, it’s “The Queen of Spades” Shayna Baszler.