History was made this week on NXT in the women’s division. Shayna Baszler defended her championship in the first-ever NXT women’s Steel Cage against Io Shirai. This was placed in the main event spot.
This wouldn’t be the first time Shirai had a crack at the NXT Women’s Championship. She failed to become champion at TakeOver: XXV earlier in the month as she submitted to the Queen of Spades.
Shirai being more focused than ever was ready to take it to her recent rival. She showed that she was becoming unglued after her match at TakeOver when she took a kendo stick to Baszler. Using the steel cage as a weapon, the challenger took it to the champ.
About midway through the match, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke made their way to the cage to help out Baszler. They kept the door to the cage locked to prevent Shirai from escaping.
As the champion was knocked out in the middle of the ring, Shirai attempted to escape the cage from over the top. Once at the top, with one foot over, Shafir climbed the outside of the cage and started attacking. Candice LeRae rushed to the ring to try and even the odds and protect her friend.
Duke opened the cage to the door in attempts to pull out Baszler for the win but LeRae had other plans in mind. LeRae leaped off the top of the cage to take her out. Shirai followed suit with a massive moonsault from the top of the cage onto her unforgiving nemesis.
.@shirai_io FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE!! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/WJJz905gbG
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) June 27, 2019
The two competitors both take turns stopping each other from crawling to the door to escape. Baszler locks the kirifuda clutch on at the entrance of the door between the ring ropes. Shirai just fingertips away from escaping the cage uses the cage door to bash the head of the champ repeatedly in attempts to escape from her clutch.
This decision was all she wrote for Shirai. The momentum of the door slams propelled Baszler up and over her opponent and out of the cage to retain her title.
After the match, Shirai snapped and attacked her now former friend Candice LeRae with a steel chair thus turning heel in the process. The show ends with LeRae laid out in the middle of the ring.
What did you think of this massive history making match? Discuss your thoughts in the comment section!
