6 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's NXT (Jan 15)

1. An Embarrassment Of Riches

While this exact point can easily be made about the earlier triple threat match between Lio Rush, Tyler Breeze and Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, watching the women's division make their entrances for the main event battle royale, it really does hit home just how absurdly strong that element of the show currently is. Candice, Yim, Belair, Martinez, Shirai, Nox, Li, even Catanzaro would all have made legitimate challengers for Ripley.

Shotzi Blackheart, Kayden Carter, Deonna Purrazzo and Dakota Kai, who would make her presence felt later, also feel like stars in the making. There wasn't even room for Taynara and the recently debuted Chelsea Green.

That they saw fit to include Shayna Baszler in this was just showing off. Arguably the most dominant women in the entire company in 2019 (sorry, Becky) thrown in here to really help get the eventual winner feel that much more impressive. For the purposes of her own personal story, you'd hope this doesn't take any shine off a potential Royal Rumble moment.

In the end the win, and the title shot went to Bianca Belair. Right now, the obvious candidate is Io Shirai, but either her popularity with the Full Sail crowd is counting against her, they're saving her WrestleMania weekend, or the speculation that she's hoping to leave the brand is sadly true. In its own right her missing out here should be a down, but Belair's so good in her own right that nobody can have any complaints.