Following a dominant run in NXT, Shayna Baszler was called up to the main roster in 2020 and immediately targeted then-RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch.
Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 36, where "The Man" successfully retained the title. Thanks to the pandemic, the match took place behind closed doors, meaning the former MMA star's debut at the Showcase of the Immortals played out inside the empty WWE Performance Center.
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, Baszler revealed that plans initially called for her to win the title. "I was originally told, and who knows in this business, but I was originally told, 'Yeah, you’re gonna go into a feud with Becky and eventually win the title off her.' COVID happens, and then we all get told, well, there’s gonna be no audience, so we want a title change like that to happen in front of a live crowd."
"And remember, at that time, we didn’t know this was going to be like a year. So we’ll wait till we get back to live crowds, and we’ll just keep extending the thing, and then Becky gets pregnant, and they don’t want to just award a title to me," she continued. "So then it was like, okay, Asuka, so maybe we’ll put you in a feud with Asuka."
Baszler went on to explain that she was also promised the win in the Money in the Bank ladder match that eventually took place atop WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. That didn't happen, and the company abandoned plans for her to win the title.
As you might expect, this sudden change in creative led to the three-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion feeling pretty down on herself, and a lack of communication from WWE about why things kept changing did little to help.
Unfortunately, Baszler never did win a world title in WWE and was released by the company earlier this year. She's since returned to the independents, but confirmed reports that, "I’ve been doing a lot of like guest coaching and shadowing producing at NXT."
Elaborating on that, she said, "I’m not officially hired, but I have a good relationship with them. I’m officially guest coaching when the opportunity comes. I don’t hate it. I actually like it a lot more than I thought I would."
As for whether her time as a WWE Superstar is over, the door isn't closed for Baszler. "Never say never in this business. I mean, weirder things have happened, right? If I get over with something crazy on the Indies or something, and I get an offer. It’s a strange question, because I don’t know that I’m ever going to be someone that’s like, Yeah, I’m ready to be done. I’ll always feel like I can go."
WWE once seemed pretty high on Baszler, and it's never really been clear why the company didn't do more with her (even after she essentially retired Ronda Rousey). The UFC alum did struggle to connect with fans, so there's always a chance that was a contributing factor.
You can hear more from Baszler in the player below.