7 Ups And 2 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Phoenix

1. Not Ready For Primetime

shayna baszler bianca belair
WWE.com

NXT officials clearly felt that Bianca Belair was ready for the big stage at TakeOver, but after watching her Women’s Championship match against Shayna Baszler, it seems pretty clear like she could use a little more seasoning before moving on to the big time.

Belair put in a respectable showing Saturday night, but it wasn’t up to the level you’d expect for a TakeOver title match. The EST of NXT looked lost a couple times and overmatched, not just in storyline, but in reality as well.

That’s not to say that Belair isn’t capable or did a bad job. She had some pretty decent beats during the match, and she’s too natural of an athlete to not succeed going forward. But this match felt lacking, and since Baszler has delivered more often than not, we’ve got to believe it’s on Bianca.

Here’s hoping she comes back with a vengeance and wows everyone next time out there.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.