Team Ripley Beats Team Baszler in First Women's WarGames Match at NXT TakeOver

Team Ripley defeated Team Baszler in the historic, first-ever women's WarGames match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames on Saturday night.

Ripley's team, consisting of Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai, proved too much for NXT women's champion Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair and NXT UK women's champion Kay Lee Ray to handle in Chicago.

Ripley's squad was at a four-to-two disadvantage, but she was able to pin Baszler for the win.

Kai was subbed into the match as a late replacement when Mia Yim was injured in a backstage attack during the preshow.

It may have been part of Kai's master plan to send a message because she destroyed Nox, her longtime tag team partner and best friend.

A few weeks ago on NXT TV after The Kabuki Warriors beat Nox and Kai to retain the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships, an all-out brawl broke out involving many of NXT's top female Superstars. As a result, NXT general manager William Regal announced the first women's WarGames match in wrestling history.

Baszler and Ripley were named team captains, with Baszler selecting Shirai and Belair for her team and Ripley selecting LeRae and Nox for hers.

The following week, Kai faced Baszler in an attempt to prove she was worthy of a spot in the match. Although Kai pushed her to the limit, The Queen of Spades prevailed. After the bout, another brawl broke out, and Yim made the save for the babyfaces with a kendo stick.

Ripley chose Yim as the final member of her team thanks to her efforts, which left Kai on the outside looking in.

Baszler still had one more spot to fill, and that happened last week during a ladder match between Shirai and Yim to determine which team would have the advantage in WarGames. When it looked like Yim was about to scale the ladder and win the match, Ray emerged to push the ladder over, allowing Shirai to prevail.

With that, Baszler finalized her team by adding Ray, and the heel team cemented the advantage of getting a two-on-one, three-on-two and four-on-three leg up during the match.

NXT not only boasts arguably the best and deepest women's division in all of wrestling, but it can be argued that its women's division is the best in the history of wrestling.

The depth was on full display Saturday, as all eight performers laid it all on the line and did some special things in what may go down as one of the most significant women's matches ever.

Team Ripley came out on the winning end, but every Superstar involved benefited and played a significant role in the bout.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).