After challenging her to a match earlier this month, Io Shirai met with Rhea Ripley in the ring during tonight’s episode of NXT, in a brutal match for the NXT Women’s Championship. In a match that very well may go down as one of the best for either superstar, it was Io Shirai who managed to overcome, taking down Ripley to retain her hold on the title in an extremely hard-fought win.
During their match, Ripley suffered a nasty cut to her ear, leading to a ton of blood pouring out of the wound. Despite the laceration, though, Ripley and Shirai went at it for the entirety of the match, putting on a brutal showing that featured tons of hard-hitting moves and even saw Shirai somehow put Ripley through a table towards the end. However, things came to a head when Shirai was able to land a huge moonsault on Ripley as she rolled back into the ring after being put through the table, and it was finally enough for Shirai to put Ripley away for the win.
??????. #WWENXT #NXTWomensTitle @shirai_io @RheaRipley_WWE pic.twitter.com/VkRJuAWh6F
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) November 19, 2020
https://twitter.com/pcwesner/status/1329255067283836932
For more on how the match ended, check out below:
Shirai goes up top for her patented moonsault. Ripley cuts Shirai off and hits a superplex. Shirai kicks out. Shirai and Ripley trade strikes. Ripley blasts Shirai with multiple knee strikes to the face. Ripley gets a two count after a basement dropkick. Ripley locks in the Prism Lock. Ripley spins Shirai before slamming her on the mat. Shirai gets to the ropes to break the hold. Ripley tries Riptide. Shirai reverses it into a flying armbar. Ripley tries to block. Ripley tries to powerbomb Shirai to break the hold but Shirai rolls Ripley back into the armbar. Ripley gets to the ropes.
Shirai floors Ripley with a palm strike. Shirai lands. the Tiger feint kick. Top rope missile dropkick by Shirai. Ripley kicks out. Meteora by Shirai. Shirai tries her moonsault but Ripley moves out of the way. Shirai lands on her feet. Ripley turns Shirai inside out with a lariat. Shirai kicks out. Ripley tries Riptide again. Shirai reverses it into a DDT. Ripley ends up on the apron. Shirai dives through the ropes and hits a sunset bomb, putting Ripley through the announce desk. Ripley is almost counted out. As Ripley rolls in the ring, Shirai hits a Moonsault for the win!
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