Shyna Baszler made a brief return to NXT.
NXT Homecoming was filled with plenty of stars from the past and that included the former NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler. The former WWE star made her appearance backstage in a segment with Zaria and Sol Ruca, who were bickering about losing their tag team match a week earlier.
The NXT North American Champion accidentally hit Zaria with a Sol Snatcher in a triple threat tag team match, which ultimately cost them a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles.
Baszler basically told them to get their s**t together. Because if they can fix all of their problems then they get whatever they want.
This isn’t the first time Baszler has returned to WWE post release. She had a producer role back in July 2025. It was a one day thing, though it’s unclear if there were plans to put Baszler in the backstage role permanently. Baszler was one of the center pieces of the women’s division from 2017 - 2020.
The 45-year-old is a former two-time NXT Women’s Champion and it really seemed that WWE was going to put a rocket on Baszler and push her to the moon. But Vince ultimately soured on the former WWE star and she’s been stuck in mid card purgatory until the day of her release. Baszler has stated in the past that she’s open to working with AEW if the opportunity presents itself.
“I said almost exactly this statement when people were talking about my UFC to WWE transition: I don’t care as much of the letters behind it, I just want to practice my craft. And if I can do that alongside my friends, that’s always a great place to be. So, I’m not going to say a hard no to any of that.”
Baszler is a free agent so she’s able to sign with AEW. There’s no word on whether she’s in talks with the promotion or not, but it’s clear that WWE has respect for the former NXT Women’s Champion. It wouldn’t be surprising if she was hired for some kind of backstage role. Meanwhile, Baszler doesn't appear to be in the phase of retirement yet, so she'll likely wrestle around the indies unless she get picked up by AEW.