Shayna Baszler Works This Week's NXT Tapings - In A New Role (WWE News)

Bodyslam.net's Patreon site is reporting that released ex-WWE star Shayna Baszler was in attendance behind the scenes for this week's episode of NXT. According to the write-up, Baszler was in the house as a producer for the developmental show - she was listed next to Oney Lorcan as one of the producers for a match pitting Kelani Jordan vs. Lainey Reid.

There's no word on whether or not this is a permanent role or a one-off. It might even be WWE's way of trying Shayna out in a brand new position before committing to something more. Of course, she'd have a say in that too. Producing matches (the old road agent role) isn't for everybody.

Baszler was released from her contract on 2 May after a whopping 8 years in WWE's system. Most recently, she teamed with the currently injured Zoey Stark as part of the Pure Fusion Collective. They'd originally been led by Sonya Deville, but she was cut from the roster in early-February before the trio could really achieve anything on television.

Interestingly, Shayna is still in the midst of a standard 90-day no-compete clause that was written into her company contract. That'll stop her from doing any active in-ring wrestling until August at the earliest, so maybe this is a brief stopover for Baszler to scratch an itch and find out if she has anything to offer behind the curtain rather than in front of the cameras.

Baszler's 8 Year Stay In WWE Was Topsy Turvy

Baszler debuted as part of the 2017 Mae Young Classic and was promptly signed to a full-time contract shortly thereafter. She turned a lot of heads (sometimes literally!) on the NXT brand by becoming a 2-time NXT Women's Champion. Most fans and critics agreed that Shayna would be a smash hit on the main roster once she was called up, but things never properly panned out for her.

It was painfully obvious that then-boss Vince McMahon didn't really have a clue how to book her. Shayna debuted on the 10 February 2020 edition of Raw by attacking top star Becky Lynch and biting her neck. This vampire-esque trait was never explored further, but it did make Baszler look like a vicious heel immediately.

WWE then plonked her in a tag-team with Nia Jax, and booked several swiftly-scrapped singles pushes over the next couple of years. By late-2022, she'd linked up with real-life pal Ronda Rousey, and it looked for all the world like Baszler had finally found her calling next to 'Rowdy'. Not quite.

Rousey was gone from WWE by the following summer. The pair's dire 'MMA Rules' match at SummerSlam 2023 was one of the worst PLE bouts of the entire year. After it, the promotion seemed to lose all interest in Shayna yet again. Her work in the Pure Fusion Collective ultimately went nowhere.

She'll always have the NXT days. In that sense, returning to the third brand as a producer is somewhat of a homecoming for Baszler.