WrestleMania 36 match breakdown: Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler

UPDATE: 4/4 - Becky Lynch (c) defeats Shayna Baszler and retains Raw Women’s Championship

In what has been one of the most physical women’s matches we’ve ever seen, Becky and Shayna were not afraid to lay into each other. But Becky Balboa keeps her championship reign of over a year going when after a grappling combo she rolled up Baszler for the pin. It was clean and clear, and maybe a bit of a surprise that Baszler didn’t get the win?

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The fans of modern professional wrestling are often divided into several categories: “smart” or “marks” or “smarks” and several divisions therein. But one of them can all agree on is that Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler should be one of the best matches at WrestleMania 36.

The reign of “The Man” has been historic for the WWE for many reasons, and Baszler is a terrifying presence not only because of her character, but her “shoot” ability to hurt people after a successful MMA career. Also she’s a biter, and that makes this even better.

Let’s take a look at a match that might end up being a main event on one of the two night’s of WrestleMania 36

Becky Lynch (C, Raw Women’s Champion) vs. Shayna Baszler

How did this feud develop

It’s been going for awhile, and just before Baszler was finally beaten by Rhea Ripley to end the longest NXT Women’s Championship reign in history, she had already turned her attention to The Lass Kicker.

They finally faced up at Survivor Series in a three-way match that included Bayley, who Baszler tapped to out win. But since Becky didn’t eat the pin, she’s not the loser either.

And then of course, sometimes you just get to beat someone up on camera and look like a monster heel. And this clip of Baszler biting the back of Lynch’s neck on live television and bleeding like a stuck pig from the teeth made it even better. It was terrific.

Where this feud stands now

Last weekend the Queen of Spades was giving a quiet yet perfectly terrifying interview to Charly Caruso (who once stole my parking space at a house show, and no she’s not forgiven), and Bex decided there’s no time like the present to hit someone with a chair in an empty arena.

We love the statement, but c’mon Becky: try and break something! Soften her up a bit more! We could have used a real/fake/real injury out of this!

The pick

I was all-in on Becky Lynch defending because of all the work she does away from the ring to promote women’s revolution to a mainstream audience, but my buddy Nick Simon said something interesting on the WWE podcast we did earlier this week: that Becky’s ego and Shayna’s talent being shown off during this build might make it a squash for the Queen of Spades.

Maybe Becky builds up her Four Horsewomen stable again, especially if Charlotte does the job to Rhea Ripley too. There’s enough younger talent in the company now between Baszler, Ripley, Nikki Cross, Alexa Bliss, Bianca Belair, and plenty more where the original four that carved the path might want to plant their flag again. Becky going down here might make that happen.

Getting Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Bayley, and Sasha Banks all on the same team again means we’re all buying the t-shirts. We’ll take Baszler, fantasy book the next step in the story, and hope it means this feud won’t be ending anytime soon.