Shayna Baszler has successfully defeated the majority of the NXT women’s locker room during her time as NXT Women’s Champion. She is just shy of a 300-day reign at the time of this writing and is the only woman to hold this title twice. As of this week’s NXT, she may have met her match.
NXT UK’s Rhea Ripley made a shocking appearance on NXT this week. Ripley is the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion. She lost the title to Toni Storm in January and it is clear she has the NXT Women’s Championship in her sights next. Baszler was in the ring accompanied by her Horsewomen, Marina Shafir, and Jessamyn Duke when Ripley’s music hit.
Before Baszler is even able to get out a single word, Ripley makes her way to the ring. Once she enters the ring and is face to face with the NXT Women’s Champion she snatches the microphone out of her hand.
Ripley says, “I know what you’re gonna say. You’re gonna say that you have beaten everyone here. But you haven’t beaten me, bitch!”
This causes all three Horsewomen to leave the ring after Baszler and Ripley exchange some words.
The only woman that has successfully beaten Baszler for the title was Kairi Sane. Sane only held the title for a little over two months prior to Baszler winning it for the second time.
Many fans are ready for Baszler to drop the title. As a matter of fact, many feel like it is overdue. She has been accused of holding the title hostage as she beats competitor after competitor all resulting in the same ending. Could Ripley be the one to finally beat her?
If she were to defeat her, Ripley would be the first woman to hold both the NXT UK and NXT Women’s Championships.
At this time it hasn’t been confirmed if this will be a one-off type of feud or if Ripley will officially be moved to the NXT brand. Some feel that Ripley’s NXT UK Championship reign was mishandled. She won the title prior to it being shown on the WWE Network. As a result, her recognized days as champion is way less than her actual time holding the belt. Her match at Evolution was also removed due to the fact that it hadn’t aired that she was the champion yet.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think bringing over an NXT UK talent is the best thing for the NXT division at this time? Will it be more believable if Ripley wins the title as opposed to giving Mia Yim, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, etc. another try?
Discuss your thoughts on the state of the NXT Women’s Championship picture in the comment section!
