Shayna Baszler retains the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT TakeOver: WarGames II
Having matched up four times previously, with each of them gaining two wins and the NXT Women’s Championship, there was no more appropriate way for Kairi Sane and the champion Shayna Baszler to settle their months-long feud once and for all then by throwing down in a 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames II. Just like their previous matches, it delivered the goods and then some. The two tore each other apart across all three falls, no competitor getting the true upper hand until the very end of the match.
Sane came out hot looking to quickly get the first fall, and for a few minutes she easily has the upper hand, catching Baszler off guard with a fast, furious attack. But just as Sane is perhaps closing in on the first fall, Baszler’s MMA buddies Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke show up once again, just like they did at Evolution, and lay a beating on Sane while the referee is distracted, giving Baszler room to lock in the Ace of Spades and snag the first fall.
Sane isn’t about to give up on the NXT Women’s Championship though, and she fights back quick. She gets Baszler on the outside, fights off Duke and Shafir, and then lands an elbow drop from the top rope to all three of them on the outside. She quickly tosses Baszler back inside the ring and hits her Insane Elbow, which nobody gets up from, and evens the score at one fall a piece.
As the two battle it out, it becomes clear that Sane simply can’t keep up with the numbers games, as Duke and Shafir continually provide a distraction so that Sane can’t get any offense in. For a moment, it looks like that might change, as Dakota Kai and Io Sharai come out to even things up, but it isn’t enough. Sane goes back to the top for another Insane Elbow, but this time Baszler counters it into a pin, getting the 1, 2, 3. Or does she? The replay shows that Sane seems to get a shoulder up before the ref’s hand hits that three count, so perhaps this story—of hatred and championships—isn’t over just yet.