The December 18th edition of NXT which saw Rhea Ripley win the NXT Women’s Championship from Shayna Baszler after an astonishing 416 days in the former MMA fighter’s second reign was a happy ending to kick off the holiday season.
As soon as Ripley stopped herself from being counted out by the referee when Baszler locked in Kirifuda Clutch (by grabbing the ref’s shirt collar, no less) the match’s ending was a foregone conclusion; you’d just have to wonder how Ripley would put Baszler away, which she did with a Riptide off the second turnbuckle.
While it’s likely that Baszler would get one rematch early in the new year before that inevitable call up to either RAW or Smackdown, it’s clear that, barring a significant injury that could put her on the shelf, Rhea Ripley is in for a long reign as NXT Women’s Champion for at least most of 2020.
Here are some ideas of who Ripley could be defending the title against this coming year:
Dakota Kai (NXT Takeover: Portland or before)
Kai’s shocking turn at Takeover War Games basically precipitated an eventual confrontation with Ripley down the road, since it was Ripley’s War Games team that Kai betrayed at the event even though Ripley and Candace LeRae ended up winning that lopsided affair.
The New Zealander made it clear she was gunning for the title this past week on NXT.
But the caveat may be that Kai has unfinished business elsewhere. She may still reignite hostilities with Mia Yim, whom she took out before the war games match as Yim was scheduled to be on Ripley’s team, as well as a returning Tegan Nox at some point.
Kai brutalized Nox during her betrayal, injuring Nox’s reconstructed knee with the steel cage door rendering the Welsh competitor unable to compete in War Games as well. There’s no doubt that these two former friends will collide at some point; NXT could have a female version of the epic Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa feud if they play their cards right.
Either Kai will challenge Ripley for the title before NXT Takeover: Portland, which could get interrupted by a returning Nox setting up a confrontation between the former friends at Takeover, or Kai will have her title match at Portland only to be confronted by Nox then.
Bianca Belair (NXT Takeover: Tampa Bay)
The ‘EST’ of NXT has taken a bit of a backseat during the past few months as Survivor Series unfolded and the focus was on the eventual Baszler vs Ripley match for the title. Bianca Belair certainly gave the former champion a run for her money at Takeover: Phoenix in early 2019 with an impressive showing, but was not able to put away Baszler for the championship.
Now with Baszler out of the picture, Belair is certainly in line for another title opportunity; she has rarely lost a match on NXT and can match Ripley in terms of power during a confrontation. The question is would this program be worth two matches, one on NXT television and another at Takeover Tampa Bay?
Portland and Tampa Bay are the only two confirmed Takeovers coming up in 2020 thus far, so the next set of predictions up until Takeover: War Games 2020 are based on the notion that there will be two other Takeovers before then.
Mia Yim / Candace LeRae (mid June NXT Takeover?)
At some point, Ripley is going to find herself facing allies and friends, such as the two women who were part of her War Games team. Yim and LeRae both failed to capture the NXT women’s title from Baszler this past year, and while Ripley is no slouch, she is definitely a more suitable target for them both if they are still gunning after the title.
The wider question would be what would be the spark that kicks off either of these title confrontations? Will Yim turn heel on Ripley, or LeRae, or will Ripley herself revert to being the heel similar to her run as the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion?
Io Shirai or Toni Storm (NXT Takeover: Brooklyn 5?)
One of the earliest confrontations Ripley had when she debuted on the mainstream NXT brand from NXT UK was with the “Genius of the Sky”. Despite the obvious height difference, Shirai’s recent transformation to the dark side has made her into a more aggressive adversary, something which could play to Ripley’s own ‘edgy’ character.
As for the Toni Storm option, it almost writes itself. Storm and Ripley both know each other from way back in Australia, Ripley beat Storm to become the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion and Storm likewise beat Ripley for the belt at Takeover: Blackpool at the beginning of 2019.
Storm eventually made her way to the main NXT before joining Ripley on Team NXT’s women’s Survivor Series team where they were victorious. Storm is scheduled to have a rematch in a triple threat match for the NXT UK Women’s Champion at Takeover: Blackpool II but it seems more likely that she is also making her transition stateside.
Once that happens, an eventual confrontation with Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship is certainly in the cards for the former Mae Young Classic winner.
And in between, there could be a smattering of other challengers to Ripley’s title reign such as Taynara Conti, Xia Li and Reina Gonzales.
What is clear, however, is that 2020 may truly indeed by Ripley’s year.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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