Slam’s Alex Podgorski is in St. Petersburg, Florida, for this year’s Royal Rumble. Alex spoke to The Submission Magician herself, Shayna Baszler. Baszler is putting all the other Rumble entrants on notice.
Alex Podgorski: What are your expectations for this year’s Rumble?
Shayna Baszler: I share the record most eliminations so I’m going to be trying to break my record so that I’m not sharing that record anymore.
Alex Podgorski: Is there a specific person that you have your eyes set on the moment you enter? A person you have to eliminate right away?
Shayna Baszler: Well, it depends on who’s in there. I’ll have to sort it out in the moment. It depends on who’s in there. I could be first, so I obviously wouldn’t have an answer.
Alex Podgorski: True but if you saw like a ring full of ten women from Raw, SmackDown and NXT would there be one person that you definitely say: I’m throwing her ass out now!
Shayna Baszler: I can’t go in with a game plan of having my target on this or that person but I’m obviously going to take out the big dogs while I have people in there to help me. For example, someone like Nia (Jax), it’s going to take maybe more than one person to take her out. So, I want to take advantage of moments like that. I’ll have to assess the situation as I get in there and see what the easiest path of resistance is.
Nia Jax Vs. Shayna Baszler at WWE Monday Night Raw at the MVP Arena, in Albany, NY, on December 4, 2023. Photo by George Tahinos, georgetahinos.smugmug.com
Alex Podgorski: The Royal Rumble is the launching point to WrestleMania. Whether you win or whether or not, do you have like a road map for how you see yourself getting there this year?
Shayna Baszler: I think I’m in a unique position where obviously I have the opportunity at Royal Rumble like everyone but if that doesn’t pan out for me I think Zoey (Stark) and I have been tearing things up and the tag division is kind of hot right now. I think there’s opportunity there for maybe a match so we’ll see. We’ll see what I got to do.
Alex Podgorski: If you were speaking to somebody who was either not necessarily sold on the Rumble, if you wanted to sell them on why they should tune in to watch this, what would you say to them?
Shayna Baszler: When I was just a fan before I started wrestling Royal Rumble was always my favorite pay-per-view because you’re guaranteed surprises. What I would say is the Rumbles, sometimes for me as a kid, weren’t even about the matches themselves. It was about the entrances and who’s gonna be next. There’s always surprises. Stories are made and ended here.