WWE fans were treated to a delectable pay-per-view event this weekend, with tables, ladders, and cricket bats being deployed to great effect at Money in the Bank. The atmosphere in the O2 Arena was electric, with that special British crowd bringing something unique compared to the American audiences that usually provide the soundtrack to the company’s major events.
Whether it was Rey Mysterio leading ‘wanker’ chants in a dark match post-Smackdown, the chorus of ‘Hey Bayley’ to the tune of the ‘00s DJ Ötzi classic whenever she hit the ring, or the incredible pop John Cena’s surprise appearance elicited, this was a special event. Maybe I’m biased as an Englishman in attendance, but it was one of WWE’s best events in years. Cena’s tease of WrestleMania London in 2025 may have got the biggest cheer of the night, but LA Knight, the Usos, and Shayna Baszler’s face turn all went down incredibly well, too.
Nobody predicted that Shayna would turn on her long-time ally Ronda Rousey. The tag team champions are firm friends and have been collaborators since their days in MMA. Rousey credits Baszler with encouraging her to join WWE, and while the latter is more respected in the squared circle, Rousey is the bigger name and has often received bigger pushes. As she prepares to call time on her career in WWE, a feud with her best friend in the business seems to be one final hurrah. But maybe we should have seen it coming.
Shayna Baszler is a nerd, as lots of wrestlers are. AEW co-founder and star Kenny Omega’s finisher is the One-Winged Angel, a clear Final Fantasy reference. WWE’s Xavier Woods runs an incredibly successful video game YouTube channel. Wrestlers are nerds. Wrestlers are gamers. Shayna Baszler’s specific brand of nerdery? Warhammer.
Shayna loves Warhammer, and specifically Warhammer 40,000. On her last trip to the UK, she and Samoa Joe visited Warhammer World to wander around the museum and immerse themselves in the most Warhammery place on earth. Shayna has also regularly referenced Warhammer via her ring gear. When she and Rousey won the tag team championship in May, she was wearing gear inspired by the Luna Wolves, the Emperor’s 16th legion of Space Marines. It’s by no means the first time she’s made a Warhammer reference in her gear, but it might be the most important.
At the time, most people dismissed it as fandom. Maybe Shayna had just started a 30k project? Maybe she was running out of legions to represent? Either way, it was a cool and relatively niche section of Space Marines to represent. What we didn’t know was that it was a precursor of things to come.
Cut to Money in the Bank. Shayna’s gear this time around is clearly referencing the Sons of Horus, with a specific shade of green and the big red eye on her chest. Cool reference! Rousey was also in costume, although trying to play it a little cooler with a veiled allusion to Majin Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z writ on her forehead. Having never watched the anime, I don’t know if there is some deeper meaning behind Rousey’s outfit, but Baszler had clearly been planning hers for months.
The story of the Luna Wolves is crucial to the world of Warhammer 40k as we know it. Their Primarch, Horus, is the primary antagonist of the events known as the Horus Heresy, and his betrayal of his father, the Emperor of Mankind, caused the ascension of the Chaos pantheon and the eternal war that still wages across the galaxy 10,000 years later. As Horus revealed his betrayal, he also hard launched his new legion, the Sons of Horus. The Luna Wolves were no more, clad in a fresh coat of paint and ready to worship the Chaos Gods instead of embarking on the Emperor’s holy crusade.
Do you see what I mean now? I pointed out Shayna’s Warhammer gear to my less nerdy and Warhammer-averse fiancé in the arena, but didn’t twig that it was foreshadowing a betrayal. Shayna wasn’t just referencing a thing she likes, she was tying it into the story her match told, and giving hardcore fans a tease of what was to come.
Henry Cavill may be the most famous Warhammer fan thanks to his lockdown project of a Custodes army (which, by the way, is the most Henry Cavill army he could have chosen, right?), but Shayna Baszler operates on a whole other level. The Queen of Spades needs a rebrand to the Queen of Warhammer, because she deserves a title befitting her supreme nerdery. All that’s left to do is wait for her Black Legion gear as the feud with Ronda heats up.