A tandem of Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler would be about as real as it gets if WWE decides to pursue that path on Friday Night SmackDown. According to a recent tweet from Dave Meltzer, it's been more than 100 years since professional wrestling was taken seriously as a combat sport. That might be the case, but if Triple H decides to pull the trigger on Rousey and Baszler, audiences will have a pretty easy time rwith the willing suspension of disbelief during their matches.
Both Rousey and Baszler were trailblazers in the cage fighting realm. The Baddest Woman on the Planet proved that women fighting in the UFC could be a draw and changed the game forever in that regard. Baszler was right there, too, and was one of the Four Horsewomen of the UFC (along with current AEW star Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke, who WWE released in May 2021). Triple H molded WWE's own women's revolution after the one that changed everything in the UFC. Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch revolutionized women's wrestling while in NXT and forced the company to tell more compelling stories due to how outstanding they were and are in the ring.
This is why Baszler and Rousey running roughshod over the women's division on SmackDown for several months makes all the sense in the world. What WWE performers do is physically demanding, just in a different way than the UFC. Shayna and Ronda have cashed checks they've earned by legitimately trying to harm their opponent. That's the opposite of what wrestlers should do during their matches. However, Rousey and Baszler bring an air of legitimacy to the feuds they are involved in, and watching some combination of WWE's four horsewomen try to wrestle SmackDown away from the two former UFC stars seems like a license to print money.
Ronda Rousey Can Bring The Best Out Of Shayna Baszler
An interesting dynamic has been developing between these two women since Rousey lost the SmackDown women's championship at Money In The Bank. She's gone on an absolute tear since Liv Morgan's controversial title defense at SummerSlam, and it's been Baszler trying to calm her down. When Rousey showed up unannounced to pay her fines with a giant bag of money, Shayna is the one who told Ronda that isn't the way things work in WWE.
Since then, Rousey has encouraged Baszler to tap into her past as one of the most brutal women alive. Shayna came up short against Liv Morgan at Clash At The Castle. WWE will eventually use this as her motivation to join Rousey and get back into the business of breaking bones. On the September 9 episode of SmackDown, that's precisely what Ronda asked for. Triple H could propel the women's division on the blue brand in an exciting and fresh direction by pursuing this storyline leading up to and after the Extreme Rules premium live event early next month.