It’s been a storyline of the slowest burn in the WWE Universe. The hugely anticipated war between the two factions sharing the same name, The Four Horsewomen. On one side is the original Four Horsewomen – MMA’s Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir (all currently in NXT) and Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. These four were dubbed the Four Horsewomen by the MMA media, in part due to their well-known love of professional wrestling, and the group was given the blessing of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair himself. The other team is the four WWE Superstars who trained together in NXT and rose the ranks together, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Sasha Banks and “The Man” Becky Lynch. With Ric Flair’s daughter in the group, the quartet was soon dubbed NXT’s Four Horsewomen. Fast forward to 2019 and now all eight women are within the umbrella of the WWE Universe. And signs have been pointing to a confrontation for almost two years now that they would collide, and events of the past several weeks have only thrown fuel on a fire that has been growing with increasing intensity.
Back in September of 2017, the Four Horsewomen first collided at the finals for the Mae Young Classic, when Rousey, Duke, and Shafir were on hand to support Baszler in the inaugural tournament. In the crowd, Bayley, Becky, and Charlotte were also on hand to witness the event. During Baszler’s match, things got heated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW8NdYKUjoI
The tension overflowed backstage following the match, as the WWE Horsewomen confronted the MMA troop post-match.
Since then, all four MMA stars have signed with the WWE, with Shayna Baszler becoming the only 2x NXT Women’s Champion in NXT history, while Ronda Rousey is the reigning Raw Women’s Champion, having recently defeated Charlotte Flair (at Survivor Series ’18), Sasha Banks (at Royal Rumble ’19) and finally Bayley, this past Monday on Raw. Following the match, Becky Lynch came down to greet her Horsewomen compatriot after her loss, and in a scene not caught on the broadcast (but lately shown on WWE’s YouTube channel), Becky showed a sign of Horsewomen solidarity to Bayley.
It was another signal that the gang warfare was indeed still on, but anyone who follows any of the eight women has seen them arguing for months now on Social Media, implying that each side is claiming bragging rights and real ownership of the Horsewomen moniker.
A little reminder from #TheBoss…#RoyalRumble @SashaBanksWWE pic.twitter.com/vUWxVlUI8h
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2019
Following Sasha Banks’ loss to Rousey at Royal Rumble this past Sunday, as Rousey tried to bury the hatchet and show a sign of respect, Banks replied by simply holding up the infamous four fingers to Rousey before departing. Rousey didn’t take kindly to the move, commenting post-match in a WWE interview on their YouTube channel.
With only one of the WWE Horsewomen left to face, Becky Lynch, in the match the world was craving at last year’s Survivor Series, it would appear that that match could finally be the lynchpin (no pun intended) in finally launching the much-anticipated war of the Horsewomen, leading to a full in-ring confrontation at SummerSlam. Should the heavily rumored Becky vs Ronda match happen at WrestleMania 35 in New Jersey, it’s safe to say that Charlotte, Bayley, and Sasha could be ringside to watch Becky’s back, and with NXT TakeOver: New York that weekend, chances are Baszler, Duke and Shafir will also be around to even up the odds.
