What if Shayna Baszler wins the women’s Royal Rumble 2019?

Shayna Baszler has enjoyed a charmed run in the WWE sphere, outside of the main roster. She debuted via the Mae Young Classic and won her way all the way to the tournament finals. From there, she became a rare two-time NXT Women’s Champion who has been largely dominant in her bully heel role. There are pretty clear paths for WWE to pursue upon her call up, too, given her well-publicized real-life friendship with Ronda Rousey. The general expectation is that the two will be kayfabe allies, perhaps launching a stable under the name of their self-anointed friend group, The Four Horsewomen of MMA. There’s also the possibility of them working as rivals first, with Baszler’s personal history with Rousey and her own MMA background making her a formidable challenger.

Baszler will defend her NXT Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair at TakeOver the night before the Royal Rumble, and it wouldn’t be without precedent for her to either use the Rumble as her call up, or to make a guest appearance on the main roster, whether she still holds the title or not. What if she went so far as to win the thirty-woman match?

The most obvious route would be for Baszler to challenge Rousey, either in a friendly wrestling match or in starting a very personal feud. However, WWE has also established the groundwork for a feud between the women of Raw and SmackDown, with Rousey having issues with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. Baszler could be a fourth party and equalizer in this situation if WWE constructed a situation in which some permutation of Baszler and Rousey worked singles matches against the two SmackDown stars at WrestleMania. That could readily pave the way for a Horsewomen of MMA vs. Horsewomen of NXT program that has been rumored since the original Mae Young Classic, with Bayley and Sasha Banks coming to Lynch and Flair’s aid, while Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke get the call up to team with their real-life friends.