7 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: WarGames
4. Baszler Getting Desperate
Upon debuting in NXT, Shayna Baszler was dominant, running through everyone en route to winning the NXT Women’s Championship.
She didn’t show any cracks in the armor until Kairi Sane defeated her for the title this summer. Since then, Shayna has had to rely on her UFC Horsewomen stablemates to help her out, despite still being a dominant heel.
Does that mean she’s less effective? No, it means others, particularly Sane, is stepping up more and more to her, which we saw on Saturday with Kairi attacking Baszler at the bell in their 2/3 falls match. Sane not only hung with Shayna, she overcame the odds in the early going to tie the match at one fall apiece before falling short.
Even then, it was Baszler converting an Insane Elbow into a rollup that was the difference. There was no dominant win from the Submission Magician, just an escape with the title. And that made a really good match even better under the surface.