5 WWE Superstars who should have been NXT Women's Champion
Since the introduction of the NXT Women’s Championship, there have been ten different champions, the most recent holder of the title being Io Shirai. Some of the best female performers in current-day wrestling have competed on the Black and Gold brand, with some coming close to winning the title, but not quite getting there.
There are some wrestlers that were part of huge NXT matches and storylines that were unsuccessful in becoming the champion, but still made a big impact with their in-ring talent. Some stars made bigger names for themselves later in their careers on RAW and SmackDown, and some left WWE altogether without ever winning a title.
Here are five Superstars who should have won the NXT Women’s Championship, but missed out.
#5 Nikki Cross was never NXT Champion
In her NXT days, Nikki Cross made a name for herself as the sole female member of the faction SaNiTY. Cross was involved in the title picture for some time on the Black and Gold brand, but never quite managed to become the NXT Women’s Champion.
Then dubbed the Twisted Sister, Cross stood out to fans as a unique and intense character, which has altered slightly since her move to SmackDown in 2019. During 2017, Cross developed a rivalry with Asuka, who was the NXT Women’s Champion at the time. Asuka and Cross were involved in a great set of matches, including the first-ever WWE Last Woman Standing match, which is still the only of its kind to take place on NXT.
After Asuka vacated the NXT Women’s Championship, Cross took on Ember Moon, Peyton Royce, and Billie Kay in a Fatal 4-Way match at NXT TakeOver: War Games for the title. The match was ultimately won by Moon, who pinned Cross. Before Cross departed NXT, she unsuccessfully challenged Shayna Baszler for the title and had a brief rivalry with Bianca Belair.
Since moving to RAW (and later, SmackDown), Cross has enjoyed success paired up with Alexa Bliss and the duo became the first team to become two-time Women’s Tag Team Champions. Cross has also been a part of the title scene, having shots at the SmackDown Women’s title. More recently a breakup between Bliss and Cross has been implied, so it will certainly be interesting to see her next move.