6 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (11 Sept)
2. Brutality Kept Brief
WWE.com
An abbreviated effort from Shayna Baszler and Rhea Ripley made good on the brand's promise of giving audiences a stellar final Network-era main event without giving away a high stakes title change that could now be ratings gold on Network television.
The two will certainly scrap again, even if Ripley theoretically froze herself out of an incoming Women's Championship match by losing a spot in next week's Number One Contender's encounter. The Fatal Four Way will see a different challenger established for Baszler, but the disqualification finish here felt like a powerful statement of intent by the brand on who could actually stop the 'Queen Of Spades' once and for all.
Presented as her equal and showing all the necessary fury against Baszler's interfering Horsewomen comrades Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke, Ripley's heel sh*thousery was reframed as babyface fire. This was a necessary speed bump ahead of her race back to the top.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
