The final NXT before Battleground started off with the first of two semifinal matches in the NXT Women’s Champion Tournament, with rivals Lyra Valkyria and Cora Jade going to battle first. This match was much shorter than many probably anticipated, and in a shocking ending, Valkyria defeated Jade with a clean pin. That wasn’t the only part of the story though, as after Valkyria was declared the winner of the match, Jade got revenge and attacked Valkyria, and then left the ring and attacked her again with a kendo stick. Security had to intervene and Valkyria looked clearly hurt, so while she is the winner of the match, there is now lots of doubt if she will actually compete at Battleground.
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Jade got the better of Valkyria in the opening exchange, knocking Valkyria down to the ground, and then a turn in momentum was cut short when Valkyria missed with a springboard slam. Jade kept u the attack, sending Valkyria through the ropes and then dropkicking her back to the mat. She taunted a bit and ended up in a hold but reversed that and locked Valkyria in a submission, but Valkyria eventually broke free.
Double stomps to the back and a pin attempt followed from Jade, but Valkyria kicked out. Jade went to wear down Valkyria with a hold but Valkyria fought out and connected with a forearm and an epic dropkick that knocked Jade to the mat. A series of punches and kicks followed and then Valkyria connected with a Northern Lights Suplex, but Jade countered into a submission. Valkyria countered Jade’s next move and hit a duplex into a cover, but Jade kicked out.
Jade went for another move but then Valkyria countered it and got the pin and the win. Valkyria moved on to the finals but then Jade chop blocked Valkyria. She followed that by grabbing a kendo stick and hitting Valkyria with it several times. Security had to get in the ring and get Jade to leave, but it seems the damage was done.
So far NXT hasn’t addressed the injury, but if Valkyria can’t compete, someone is going to need to take her place. It would be odd for Shawn Michaels to just let an attack on the winner go and put the person who caused the attack move on to the finals. That said, Jade is one of the people in the tournament that made it that far, so you can’t see her not having another shot at all. My bet is that another match is booked with the loser of tonight’s second Tournament match, and that happens either tonight or this weekend at Battleground.
That would mean the winner of that match would then go back to back, having to face the winner of tonight’s second tournament match. We’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out, but it threw some intrigue into the mix. That second match will be between Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez, and in a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Stratton told us that she wishes she had gotten a rematch against Indi Hartwell before she vacated the NXT Women’s Championship after the WWE Draft.
Stratton also addressed her WWE 2K23 rating, which was 3 points higher than Hartwell’s. “I mean obviously, it speaks for itself. The fans don’t lie. Obviously, she was the Champion and I think she’s still considered the Champion,” Stratton said. “I feel like I should have had a rematch with her before she got called up so I could have been Champion, but I definitely feel like the fans like me better than her and I just feel like I need that Title now.”
Who do you think will win? Let us know in the comments, and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
