Shayna Baszler, a former MMA fighter, was a fan favourite Superstar in NXT and held the Women's Championship for a considerable amount of time. After initially being booked in a similar way on the main roster, she's since become a comedy character and has spent the past few weeks selling for Alexa Bliss' magical powers (even pretending to be scared of a doll at one point).
Fans aren't on board with it, but Baszler has now responded to their criticisms in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated. "I need to show that I can be counted on to nail whatever it is I’m being asked to do," she started. "It’s easy to be a badass tyrant like I was in NXT. I can totally fit that role."
"After establishing myself as that, it’s important to show I can cover a wide range of what professional wrestling is today. It’s like music. Some people like country, some like heavy metal. Not everything is for everyone, so I understand why some people roll their eyes when I do comedy. But I’m established as what I am. All it takes is one sentence from a promo delivered properly."
"I am a legitimate badass; that’s always there for me," she continued. "I’m glad I can be on RAW and show a wider range." Baszler would go on to say that teaming with Nia Jax has helped a lot, and it sounds like she legitimately believes that pretending to be scared of a doll is good for her career.
We're not sure we can agree, but you can't fault Baszler's attitude and she's clearly trying to make the best out of a bad situation. How much this will damage her career moving forward to hard to say, but wrestling fans do tend to have short memories, so perhaps it won't be that bad for her.