Former two-time NXT women’s champion Shayna Baszler recently spoke with Daily DDT about a variety of topics, including revealing details behind her past fight training, and her case for why integender wrestling not only works, but isn’t that big of a deal for companies to try. Highlights are below.
Uses her fight background to explain why a women competing with a man is not that big of a deal:
[Intergender wrestling] is an interesting topic and it always is. As a mixed martial artist and a fighter, I was the only female on my fight team for years for the majority of my career. I’ve even entered submission wrestling tournaments and wrestled in the men’s division because the women in the women’s division weren’t as experienced, so I wanted to get my money’s worth in this tournament. This is not new to me or anyone else who trains in that sort of martial art to understand that a woman can compete with a male. That’s not a question and it’s surprising to me that this day and age that’s so hard for people to understand.
Why she’s a huge supporter of intergender wrestling:
I am also in support of intergender wrestling when it makes sense and when I know the woman knows what they’re doing. I wouldn’t suggest that just anyone… I don’t know if it’s even appropriate to name names. I wouldn’t tell Lana to get in there with any male on the roster, but someone like myself who’s a technician and is experienced competing against males and I know how to balance technique against strength, it’s a little more fitting for someone like me. I’m not all Gung Ho, ‘All women should fight on the equal ground as the men.’ If there are women who are trained to do that, I’m all for it. I think the argument for me is that people don’t necessarily believe all the time that a woman can balance out that male vs. female aspect. But it is possible and I will show that.