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When Natalya pinned Shayna Baszler on Friday Night SmackDown this week my immediate reaction was “why do they keep booking Baszler to lose all these singles matches? Seems like a lot!”
Then I realized I needed to research if WWE actually has been booking Baszler to lose a lot of singles matches. So it was off to Cagematch.net to check out her 2021 singles record.
The results:
SmackDown, April 16 - Natalya def. Baszler
SmackDown, April 2 - Natalya def. Baszler
Raw, Mar. 29 - Naomi def. Baszler
SmackDown, Mar. 19 - Belair vs. Baszler goes to no contest
Raw, Mar. 15 - Asuka def. Baszler
SmackDown, Mar. 5 - Belair def. Baszler
Raw, Mar. 1 - Flair def. Baszler
Raw, Feb. 15 - Baszler def. Lana
Raw, Feb. 8 - Naomi def. Baszler
Raw, Jan. 25 - Flair vs. Baszler goes to no contest
Raw, Jan. 18 - Baszler def. Rose
Raw, Jan. 4 - Brooke def. Baszler
That’s a 2-8 record with two no contests.
Okay, so how about her tag team partner, Nia Jax?
SmackDown, April 2 - Tamina def. Jax
SmackDown, Mar. 19 - Banks def. Jax
Raw, Mar. 1 - Jax def. Naomi
Raw, Feb. 8 - Lana def. Jax
It’s noteworthy that she isn’t being put into nearly as many singles matches as Baszler but she’s only 1-3.
Perhaps most notable is that during this same time span, dating back to the start of the year, they’re 12-1 in tag team matches, and the one loss came in a six-woman tag match alongside Bayley against Bianca Belair, Sasha Banks, and Reginald. The champions have been successful on Raw, SmackDown, and even NXT throughout their run.
My assumption with all these singles matches going the way they have is that WWE would be using Baszler’s lack of success as a catalyst for a breakup. Baszler was a top star as a singles wrestler in NXT and there are plenty of interesting match-ups for her in the Raw women’s division. But any hint of a breakup seemed to go away when the champs retained their titles at WrestleMania 37 and Jax has done nothing but put Baszler over as the best partner she could possibly ask for.
Better together, I guess.