NXT Superstar Xia Li is reportedly planned to have a dark match prior to this week’s SmackDown. Fightful Select is reporting this was the plan as of Tuesday. An opponent has not been named at the time of this writing.
EDIT: Since this posting, Aliyah has been confirmed as Xia Li’s opponent.
Li joins several other NXT talents that have had dark matches over the course of the past number of weeks. Tegan Nox, Scarlett, Shotzi, and Toni Storm have all been included on that list. Nox and Shotzi debuted on SmackDown last week and came out with a win in tag team action by defeating the Women’s Tag Team Champions of Natalya and Tamina. A video package started airing last week showing that Storm is coming to the blue brand as well.
At this time, Fightful has not heard of any plans of Li being called up. However, the plan is to continue to have NXT talent work dark matches prior to RAW and SmackDown now that fans will be in attendance.
Li has the biggest opportunity of her career coming up on next week’s NXT as she will be challenging Raquel Gonzalez for the NXT Women’s Championship. She has been a part of a very popular NXT stable at the moment along with Boa and Mei Ying, known collectively as Tian Sha.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for any further news on NXT talent being utilized for the main roster.