We’ve got ourselves another marquee NXT event tonight, folks! A major triple threat battle sees Charlotte Flair defend the NXT Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai! This TakeOver is a rather unique one bringing back a branding I’m not sure anyone ever expected… it’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House! It’s cute and nostalgic in some ways, but it’s also a name that basically translates to being lesser than a regular PPV. I mean seriously that was the whole idea back in the day. Perhaps they want lower expectations than usual for this, the first and maybe only TakeOver of the pandemic era. Still the card looks as strong as just about any other so let’s get into the previews!
NXT Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai
Well this should be outstanding. I mean Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley put on a great match at WrestleMania with an ACTUAL empty arena, long before WWE finally caved and started simulating crowds. Now they have an audience, the added bit of quality that comes from just being on NXT particularly on a TakeOver, and one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world in Io Shirai being added to the mix! If anything’s gonna challenge Gargano/Lee for that MOTN status it’ll be this one. Make no mistake, this match oughta be something special.
Ripley was really coming into her own when Charlotte came around. In some ways it felt like her reign was only just getting started when Flair won the Rumble and Ripley took it upon herself to start daring her to go after her gold. Meanwhile, Io’s been in this weird state of being the obvious next NXT Women’s Champion for over a year without ever actually doing it. It’s strange. She’s wildly talented, wholly unique and remarkably popular. I’m not sure what they’ve been waiting for with her, what’s kept them from pulling the trigger.
It’d be great to see Io go ahead and take the title tonight as she reasonably could’ve become champ any time since the heel turn that instantly made her into the most beloved woman on the roster and it’d have worked out excellently. And Ripley will likely regain this title some day too but that’s likely a ways off. For now, I expect Charlotte to have quite a long reign, it’s too soon to even think about a change for me. Flair to retain.
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