Two WWE NXT Championships were affected by the WWE Draft, as NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell was drafted to Monday Night Raw, and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn were drafted to SmackDown. Dawn and Fyre ended up defending their Titles ahead of their move, but Hartwell surprised many when she vacated the Title and revealed a tournament would be held to select the next NXT Women’s Champion. Now thanks to 98.5 The Sports Hub, we know who will be part of the tournament and who they will be facing ahead of the Finals at NXT Battleground.
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The graphic you can see below shows the first-round match-ups, and on the left side, there is Gigi Dolin vs Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez vs Jacy Jayne. The right side will have Lyra Valkyria vs Kiana James and Fallon Henley vs Cora Jade. The winners of these matches will face each other in the semifinals, and then the winners of those matches will face each other in the finals, which will be held at Battleground on Sunday, May 28th.
There are a few ways this could end up going. Several rivalries are in the mix, so you could see someone costing somebody else a match just out of spite, while some rivalries might make their way into the finals and semi-finals. Starting on the left side, Perez and Stratton have been at odds in the Title picture, so that would make a great semi-finals match-up, but so could Dolin vs Jayne.
Perez has also had issues in the past with Dolin, so that’s another possible avenue. Over on the right side, with the issues between James and Henley, you could easily see James trying to cost Henley the match. If they both win though, that rivalry could play out in the semi-finals, bringing it to a close by sending one of them to the finals.
The other big rivalry in the mix is Jade and Valkyrie, who have been battling for a bit now. If they end up in the semi-finals, this could be a way to ramp that feud up one more notch or close it out completely, though if Jade ends up in the finals, there are some stories that sort of write themselves.
The big one is Perez and Jade being in the finals, which would bring us full circle in a way. Perez had to defeat Jade on her journey to her first Title, and since then Jade has truly come into her own as a heel. Likewise, Perez was never defeated for her Title and her reign was cut short due to health, and it would be fitting that she would have to take on the next level version of Jade before she reclaims her Title. It would also be fitting for Jade to have to take down her former best friend to claim the Title and begin her first Championship reign, so there are several ways to go with the story.
NXT could go a completely different way with this of course, having Stratton in the finals against someone. Valkyria or Henley makes sense from a face and heel perspective, but with how NXT has positioned both Stratton and Jade as stars looking to take the Title for themselves, perhaps they could end up facing each other in the finals for the top prize in NXT.
We’ll have to wait and see obviously, but it should be thrilling to see how things play out. Let us know your theories in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
