Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Shayna Baszler defeated Ronda Rousey in a heated battle between former friends and tag team partners at WWE SummerSlam on Saturday.
WWE @WWE
It’s deeply personal between @RondaRousey & @QoSBaszler in the #MMARules match at #SummerSlam! pic.twitter.com/LkI1gAkCxu
Baszler won via submission after applying the Kirifuda Clutch.
Prior to joining WWE, Rousey and Baszler were part of a friendship group along with Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke known as The Four Horsewomen. All four were UFC fighters who shared a love of professional wrestling as well.
Saturday’s match drew on the past of both Rousey and Baszler, as it was contested under MMA Rules.
Baszler was the first of The Four Horsewomen to break into the wrestling business when she started competing on the independent scene in 2015, and she got her big break with WWE as part of the inaugural Mae Young Classic in the summer of 2017.
Rousey’s official WWE debut occurred in January 2018 when she showed up after Asuka won the inaugural women’s Royal Rumble match. She pointed to the WrestleMania sign in the rafters, signaling that she had signed with the company.
The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion teamed with Kurt Angle to beat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in her debut match at WrestleMania 34, and she won the Raw Women’s Championship a few months later.
One year after making her in-ring debut, Rousey faced Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in the main event of WrestleMania 35, marking the first time women headlined The Show of Shows.
While Rousey was enjoying a meteoric rise on the main roster, Baszler was establishing herself as the most dominant female Superstar in NXT history.
Before getting called up in 2020, The Queen of Spades held the NXT Women’s Championship twice for a total of 548 days, which remains a record for that title.
After nearly three years away, Rousey made her return to WWE in 2022 by winning the women’s Royal Rumble match. She was initially a lone wolf, but she joined forces with Baszler for the first time in WWE in October 2022.
They would go on to win the vacant WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships in May, but their title reign was short-lived, as Baszler turned on Rousey during a title defense at Money in the Bank last month, allowing Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez to win.
Baszler explained the shocking betrayal by saying she wanted to knock Rousey down a peg due to her belief that her friend was handed everything in WWE while she had to earn it.
The Queen of Spades set out to prove her superiority at SummerSlam, and her victory raises questions about whether Rousey may be set to leave WWE temporarily or perhaps even for good.
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