This week’s WWE NXT was one to remember, as it featured the moment when The Man Becky Lynch became a Grand Slam Champion after defeating Tiffany Stratton for the NXT Women’s Championship. That milestone moment for Lynch was accompanied by a substantial ratings boost for the show, as Sports TV Ratings is reporting that the September 12th episode brought in 850,000 viewers. That’s the highest viewership total since the October 28th episode in 2020, and the show also got a welcome bump in the demo from 0.18 last week to 0.26 this time around.
Stratton has been one of NXT’s brightest stars since joining the brand, and the match showcased her skillset and athleticism, especially regarding top rope moves like her signature moonsault. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to continue her reign, and now Lynch will represent the NXT brand moving forward.
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It remains to be seen what happens with Stratton next, as the star has spoken about moving to the main roster at several points throughout the year. Stratton is more than ready to jump to Raw or SmackDown and has even revealed a few dream opponents whenever she does join one of those shows.
“I feel like Charlotte Flair, she and I have similar styles. She was a gymnast,” Stratton said. “I have always wanted to… I think Charlotte Flair is one of my dream matches, for sure. Bianca Belair, I love her. I love watching her. She’s so fun to watch. Again, we both have similar backgrounds. I did CrossFit. She also did CrossFit before coming to NXT. Yeah, Bianca and Charlotte for sure.”
Both Flair and Belair would be major matches for Stratton once on the main roster, though there’s always the chance we see those matches happen in NXT. There’s been far more crossover between NXT and the main roster over the past year, with Seth Rollins, The New Day, Butch, Rhea Ripley, and more jumping into the NXT ring. Now Lynch joins that list and now holds Championship gold, though she’s not the only member of Raw to hold a Title on NXT.
Earlier this year Judgement Day’s Dominik Mysterio came to NXT and dethroned Wes Lee as North American Champion, though he also had the entire Judgement Day roster throw in a helping hand. Since then they’ve continued to help him retain the Title against stiff competition, but his next challenge will be his greatest so far. That will be Mustafa Ali, who has made several attempts to take on the North American Champion over the past two months, but things always seem to change before he gets a one-on-one match. Ali finally gets his shot at No Mercy though, and this could be the moment where Ali finally dethrones Mysterio.
As for Lynch, she will have challengers lining up. Names that come to mind are Lyra Valkyria, Jacy Jayne, Cora Jade, Roxanne Perez, Gigi Dolin, and Blair Davenport, but we could see a few other names added to the nix. Stratton is also likely to get a rematch, so we could see that happen before all is said and done. It’s likely that Lynch will have a match at No Mercy, given that it’s a premium live event, so we’ll have to wait and see if anything comes to fruition in the next two weeks.
What do you want to see next for Lynch in NXT, and what do you want to see happen with Stratton? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
