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One of WWE's most brutal superstars is pausing her heel antics this Christmas weekend to share an awesome story of how she celebrated the holiday a few years back.
Shayna Baszler signed with WWE in August 2017, just over two years after making her pro wrestling debut. Before that, The Queen of Spades had a successful MMA career from June 2006 - June 2015, which included work with UFC, Invicta, Elite XC and Strikeforce, among others. She left the sport with a record of 15 wins (1 knockout, 1 decision, 13 submissions) and 11 losses (6 knockouts, 3 decisions, 2 submissions).
Baszler's MMA career allowed her to visit United States troops in the Middle East to bring them some holiday cheer. She took to Instagram this weekend to recall how she celebrated Christmas Eve 2014 by participating in a military base-wide lifting competition. The post included a photo and new video.
"Slide 1) On Christmas Eve 2014, I stepped off of a C-130 somewhere in the Middle East and immediately entered a military base-wide lifting competition. Slide 2) Carrying on the tradition. (Minus the travel, jet lag, lack of rest, and lack of nutrition) #ChristmasEve #fitness #garagegym #military #750club," she wrote.
In the comments section, a fan asked the former WWE NXT Women's Champion which branch of the United States military she was in. Baszler clarified and noted that she was able to make several tours of the Middle East to teach and work with troops.
"I was never military, but I traveled across the ME on several tours to teach and grapple with the soldiers," she wrote.
Baszler was on UFC's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Ronda Rousey vs. Team Miesha Tate in 2013. She then had two fights with the UFC but lost both, and left MMA for pro wrestling. Her final fights were a second round TKO loss to Bethe Correia at UFC 177 on August 30, 2014, and a first round TKO loss to Amanda Nunes on March 21, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 62.
WWE Superstars recite Christmas poem
The WWE rosters had Christmas off this weekend. Last Friday's SmackDown was taped, and the upcoming RAW and SmackDown shows will reportedly be "Best Of" specials.
WWE released a video of top superstars reciting their own version of a popular Christmas poem - A Visit from St. Nicholas, or more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.
The video, seen below, showed wrestlers giving a hilarious rendition of the poem first published in 1823. Superstars included were Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Jey Uso, Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio, R-Truth, among others.
While there was no SmackDown TV taping on Friday, the annual Holiday Tour will resume that day with non-televised live events in Las Vegas and Toronto. The next TV shows will be the RAW Day 1 on January 1 and SmackDown: New Year's Revolution on January 5.
What is your favorite Christmas memory from WWE? Sound off in the comments section below!
