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Shayna Baszler Release A "Big Surprise" To Many In WWE

Former NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler was one of 17 WWE talents released this week, marking the end of her eight year spell with the company. However, given what Baszler had been helping with recently, her release came as a huge surprise.
Joe Baiamonte|
WWE.com

Shayna Baszler may not have been much of a prominent figure on WWE television recently, but that doesn't mean her release this week was any less shocking to a lot of people backstage.

Baszler, a former two-time NXT Women's Champion, had most recently been part of Pure Fusion Collective on WWE TV, alongside Zoey Stark and Sonya Deville. However, while her on-screen presence may not have been particularly prolific in recent months, Baszler's work behind the scenes had been expanding.

Fightful Select reported that Baszler had been helping out at NXT recently, causing her release to come as a surprise to many. The 44-year-old only re-signed with the company last year.

All together 17 talents were released from the WWE and NXT rosters, including the likes of Braun Strowman, Dakota Kai, Cora Jade and Gigi Dolin. Baszler had been on the main roster since 2020, following two runs as Women's Champion, which were ended by Kairi Sane and Rhea Ripley, respectively.

Baszler's second reign of 416 days as champion made her the sixth longest reigning women's champion in WWE history, just shy of Sensational Sherri's 441 day reign.

The Queen Of Spades is reportedly subject to a 90-day non-compete clause, meaning the earliest we will see her inside the ring of another promotion will be roughly three months.

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Baszler made her pro wrestling debut 10 years ago, when she accompanied ReDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) to the ring for a ROH Tag Team Title defense. She also competed in Absolute Intense Wrestling, DDT Pro Wrestling and Stardom before finding her way to the old New York territory.

In addition to her two NXT Women's Title reigns, Baszler was also a three-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion, winning the belts twice with Nia Jax and once with longtime best friend Ronda Rousey.

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Joe Baiamonte
JOE BAIAMONTE

Joe Baiamonte is a contributing writer for The Takedown On SI, joining the team in April, 2025. Joe has been covering professional wrestling, sports and entertainment for over a decade, serving as editor at SPORTbible between 2014 and 2018 - where he helped the team to three consecutive Football Blogging Awards - and as head of sport at Unilad. Joe has written for numerous outlets in the United Kingdom and United States, including The Sportsman, Sporf, Pubity, GiveMeSport and The Sportster, interviewing the likes of Neymar, Harry Kane, Ruud Gullit, Triple H, Ric Flair, Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Rey Mysterio, Aaron Boone, Alex Cora, Chris Sale and Chase Uttley. He has a BA (Hons) degree in Journalism and Broadcasting from the University of Salford and currently resides in Manchester, England, having been raised just down the road in Burnley. He briefly moved to Croatia with his family after the birth of his son, where he spent an entire summer writing on the beach and eating squid.

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