With what can only be described as one of the biggest moments of the year, Rhea Ripley has defeated Shayna Baszler to become the new NXT Women’s Champion. After 415-days in her second reign it felt as if Baszler was going to be forever unstoppable.
She went through some of the best talent – Bianca Belair, Candice LeRae, and Io Shirai just to name a few. No one could seem to get the best of the Queen of Spades and her Kirifuda Clutch – until NOW.
On tonight’s NXT there was a massive main event between Baszler and Ripley. As a side note it is amazing how women main eventing is becoming the norm. The match was pretty back and forth for the first half of it. Ripley was getting near falls but Baszler was proving why she has been champion for so long.
About midway through the match, once the expected appearance of Marina Shafir & Jessamyn Duke took place, Baszler would take advantage of the distraction and stomp on Ripley’s arm as it was propped up on the steel steps. From there on Baszler became dominant. She would focus on the arm and the fingers of Ripley attempting to wear her down.
Once Ripley would get back on the offense she would drop kick Baszler into the referee, knocking him out. Ripley delivered Riptide and what would have been an easy three count there was no conscious referee. During the referee being incapacitated, Baszler would introduce a chair. She would plant Ripley face first into the chair and for a moment my heart stopped as the referee resurfaced and only counted to two.
From there the Kirifuda Clutch was locked on Ripley for what seemed like forever. Ripley would continue to fight as she tried to get to the ropes multiple times to break the hold only to be pulled back to the middle. Ripley would continue to exert every ounce of energy to stay in it. As the referee went to drop her arm to count her out she pulled on the his shirt to show that she wasn’t done.
Ripley would escape the Kirifuda Clutch and try to submit Baszler in the Prism. Baszler breaks free and hits her with a step up knee strike and placed her up on the turnbuckle. The Nightmare would hit an avalanche Riptide from the second rope and get the one-two-three to become the NEW NXT Women’s Champion.
What a match and what a moment. Congratulations to Rhea Ripley for becoming the first-ever woman to become both the NXT UK and NXT Women’s Champion.
