With Ronda Rousey now on Raw, Shayna Baszler chasing the NXT Women’s Champion, and Marina Shafir featured in NXT due to her fiance, Roderick Strong, that means that there’s only one member left of MMA’s Four Horsewomen left to head to WWE television. But recent posts from Jessamyn Duke and comments from Triple H may indicate that it’s only a matter of time before the fourth member joins the others in the WWE Universe.
Jessamyn Duke has been involved with MMA since 2010, going 5-2 as an amateur before going pro with Invicta in 2012. She won her first two fights then joined UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter as part of Team Rousey in 2013, winning her debut fight at the Ultimate Fighter finale that year. Unfortunately, she would lose her next two UFC fights before returning to Invicta. She finished her MMA career in 2016, with a 3-5 pro record. Like the rest of her Four Horsewomen teammates, she began training briefly in pro wrestling with Josh Barnett and WWE Superstar Natalya in 2015, before joining Santino Brothers gym to devote full time last summer.
Last week, she posted an instagram photo of her sparring with fellow Horsewoman and NXT Superstar Shayna Baszler at the WWE Performance Center and Dave Meltzer recently reported that she’s been one of Rousey’s training partners at the PC.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgyznzkBxUt/?hl=en&taken-by=jessamynduke
She also posted photos of her being backstage at Smackdown Live this week, thanking one of her mentors Natalya. She was there attending the event with her family.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhFQh-9hGEK/?hl=en&taken-by=jessamynduke
Squared Circle Sirens reported back in January about Triple H’s comments on Duke at an NXT media conference call, where Triple H had the following to say about Duke.
“I’m aware of Jessamyn, I’ve seen her training and she actually has kind of a gift for it, I believe, and I think that a lot of people that I trust their opinions and have seen her train and have seen her step into the ring think highly of her. So I think it’s just a matter of timing for her. It’s a matter of timing for us, and for her wherever she goes or however she does this. For us, it’s timing of just having the avaialble space.”
It would appear that it’s now a question of when she joins the WWE Universe and not if.
