Shayna Baszler Confirms She Was At WWE NXT, Clarifies That She Was Only On Headset

Baszler clarifies what she was doing at NXT.

It was first reported by Cory Hays of Bodyslam.net and later corroborated by Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp that Shayna Baszler was listed as a producer for the Kelani Jordan versus Lainey Reid match on the 7/8 WWE NXT. Fightful added that WWE was testing Baszler out as a producer.

Baszler proceeded to go live on Twitch and confirmed that she was ‘working with people’ at the Performance Center.

“I happened to be at the (WWE) P.C. working with people and I’m not gonna out the people that requested I work with them. So please, the dirt sheets are usually wrong so do not believe stuff.”

Baszler went on to clarify what exactly she was doing at NXT. She shared a story about Bryan Danielson being on headset when he was at WWE and telling her that that’s when he learned the most.

Baszler shared that at Raw and SmackDown, only the ‘top guys’ can sit in Gorilla Position for matches or segments that aren’t their own. Baszler said she went to NXT because she was a top talent there. She added that she’s technically still under contract to WWE because her 90-day no-compete is not up yet.

“Okay, about the producing thing, that’s something that I’ve — okay, I don’t know if you guys — no, why would you know this? So, one time when Daniel Bryan was backstage when he was with WWE, he would always sit on the headset when he wasn’t wrestling and he always told me, you know, that’s when he learned the most was when he was on a headset. He learned a lot. He learned about what camera is actually looking for, what the calls are, what the timing is of the camera switches. Like, it helped him as a performer so, I figured during the times when I was home, I would go to NXT and I would sit on the headset just because on Raw and SmackDown, at the time, I don’t know if it’s still this way. I guess I haven’t been gone that long but only top guys were allowed to sit back in Gorilla for the rest of the show that wasn’t theirs — that matches weren’t theirs. Well, I knew at NXT, I could get on the headset because I was a top guy there. So, I would do it just to learn to be a better… I knew I could get on a headset so I started sitting on a headset just to listen to the calls to learn, again, about being a performer… It helps you understand the TV part of wrestling, which is what WWE is, and so I was doing that. A couple of my friends got the okay because technically, I’m still under contract with them. To help out with some stuff in the ring, it happened to be on a Tuesday, I happened to sit on a headset, that’s it. That’s literally all that happened, guys…”

Baszler went on to state that the possibility of becoming a producer on a more full-time basis could be there, but she’d have to make some decisions regarding her in-ring career. She thinks she still has stories left to tell.

She shared that there’s a part of her that hopes the powers that be at WWE see all of the social media chatter about her being at NXT and consider her for the role.

“But yeah, could the possibility be there? Sure. I would have to decide if I’m ready to be done. But that’s a whole other thing, you know what I mean? I still think I have some stories to tell, maybe? But, I don’t know… All I can tell you is, is it a possibility? Sure, always, especially because I’ve kept such a good relationship at NXT and like I said, that was a place I’d always hung around. Just didn’t really feel the need to tell anyone but, who knows? Who knows? Maybe they’ll see everyone talking about it and want to do it now. I don’t know.

Like I said, that would be great, right? I can’t throw myself on the floor till I’m 60. But, as of right now, I have no job. Well, I shouldn’t say that. As of right now, I’m still under my 90 days left. But, as for anything else, who knows? A side of me kind of hopes they see everyone talking about it and then they think about it because what leverage that would have for me…”

Circling back to the in-ring front, Baszler said she’d like to go back to Japan and there are a few Joshis she wants to step into the ring with.

“Honestly, I really kind of wanna go back to Japan. But, I’ve wrestled all the Joshis that I want to except for… Ah, there’s a couple, I guess.”

Baszler was a part of WWE’s batch of talent releases in May. The three-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion was last in action at GCW/Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XIII.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the original source with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.