WWE star and current women’s tag champion Shayna Baszler recently spoke with Wrestle Buddies about a variety of topics, including her thoughts on her NXT women’s championship reign and how the NXT environment was more intimate than the main roster. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Says NXT is more intimate than the main roster:
“I think that the nature of RAW being just a much bigger show, it’s been around a lot longer and NXT has just been on live TV a year and a half. So, I think the nature of RAW being so much bigger makes NXT a little more intimate. I think that’s something that stays with you, and that’s something we’ve missed without that big live crowd. NXT fans really follow the stories and grab onto the characters and what stories are being told. It’s just more intimate.”
On her reign as NXT champion:
“I’m so glad that I got to experience that, even though they hated me most the time I was there. I didn’t see it until actually I went to Raw. And then, you don’t know what you got until it’s gone. I think people were appreciating what I did for the title and the division and just the girls that were there during that time.”
Talks fans returning for WrestleMania 37:
“I’ve said this about MMA and pro wrestling both – I think they’re the same in that the way they’re meant to be digested is live. The audience is more or less a character in the show. We love the characters. A lot of what we did is based on how the crowd reacts. Yeah, we can get that with the ThunderDome now, but there’s something about being in person. The energy is different and the ThunderDome is better than when we were at the empty Performance Center. But I think I kind of took that for granted because when I went back to NXT and had the surprise appearance, it was like, ‘Oh right, we have to talk between a crowd chanting.’ It was like a breath of fresh air, and I cannot wait until WrestleMania. They’re gonna be just as excited as we are to perform in front of them. I can’t wait.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)