Rhea Ripley praises Shayna Baszler following NXT Championship win
Rhea Ripley shocked the world this past Wednesday when she overcame the Queen of Spades, Shayna Baszler, to capture the NXT Women's Championship. Since leaving NXT UK at the end of the summer, Ripley has had a rocket strapped to her boots, shooting her to the moon.
Survivor Series weekend alone was huge for the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion, who not only won the first-ever WarGames match at a 2-on-4 disadvantage, but she was the sole survivor at Survivor Series, leading NXT to victory over RAW and SmackDown.
Ripley's meteoric rise to superstardom was capped off with her title win this past Wednesday, making her the first Superstar to ever hold both NXT and NXT UK Women's Championships.
However, the moment wouldn't have been as special had her opponent not been such a dominant champion. Shayna Baszler's incredible run and tendency to cut fan favorites' legs out from under them served Ripley well.
The Nightmare praises the Queen of Spades
Ripley and Baszler put in an incredibly brutal back and forth match, which was to be expected. With two top tier bruisers, the WWE Universe wanted nothing less than a slobber knocker.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso, Ripley spoke highly of the former champion, claiming that she grew as a performer because of Baszler.
Shayna is definitely a bad *ss, she's credible, and she deserved to hold the title for so long. It's hard to describe, it's more of a natural feeling, but stepping into the ring with her taught me a lot about myself and what we do in this ring.
There's an idea that either the championship can make the champion, or vice-versa. Shayna Baszler definitely heightened the importance of the NXT Women's Title, and it's because of her hard work and the opponents that she defeated that Ripley's win on Wednesday felt so important.