Shayna Baszler Defends WWE's Booking

SmackDown star Shayna Baszler has no time for criticism of WWE's creative processes.

Shayna Baszler Lilly
WWE

Shayna Baszler staunchly defended WWE's booking strategy during a recent interview with Metro.

The ex-NXT bad ass, who recently moved from Raw to SmackDown in the 2021 Draft, told the website that "depth of character" is everything in pro wrestling. That's why she wasn't too bothered about showing a different side to her personality during 2021's feud opposite Alexa Bliss.

In fact, after getting over the thought of leaving her MMA-influenced comfort zone, Baszler says she enjoyed the attention some over-the-top segments from Raw received online; she pointed out that a particularly daft segment involving Alexa's doll "Lilly" earned 1.6 million views on YouTube.

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"The next most-watched segment was Drew [McIntyre] with 480,000", she added.

From there, Shayna went on gently roast fans who were critical of the skits by saying that some hardcores "don't like it" but other "people clearly love it". Perhaps she was speaking of a more casual fanbase there.

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Baszler would be willing to do more wacky stuff like that in the future too. She definitely needs to do something - Shayna has barely been featured on TV since jumping over to Friday nights late-last year.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.