Account
Io Shirai Beats Dakota Kai, Retains NXT Women's Title at WWE NXT TakeOver: XXX
August 23, 2020
In her first pay-per-view title defense, Io Shirai beat Dakota Kai at NXT TakeOver: XXX on Saturday to retain the NXT Women's Championship.
Shirai had to contend with Kai and Raquel Gonzalez during the match, but the champion was able to take out both women with a moonsault. She followed that up by hitting a Captain Kota on Kai to get the pinfall victory.
After the match, Rhea Ripley came down to the ring to prevent Gonzalez from attacking Shirai again. The two women had a staredown, teasing a potential future battle.
Kai has had her sights set on Shirai and the NXT Women's Championship for quite some time, but it took a bit of maneuvering on her part to make a title match happen at TakeOver.
The New Zealand native fell short in her first attempt to earn a title shot, as she lost a Fatal 4-Way Elimination match for the No. 1 contendership that also included Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae and Mia Yim. Nox won the match, which set the stage for a bout between her and Shirai.
Nox pushed The Genius of the Sky to her limits and nearly knocked her off to become a first-time NXT women's champion, but Shirai managed to prevail and hold on to the title in what was her first defense since winning the belt in a Triple Threat against Charlotte Flair and Ripley at NXT TakeOver: In Your House.
Kai made her presence felt after Shirai's win over Nox, though, as she came from out of nowhere to lay Io out with a big boot at the top of the stage.
That put Kai firmly on the title radar, but she wasn't going to simply be handed a shot at the NXT Women's Championship, especially since Ripley let it be known that she wanted an opportunity to recapture the belt she lost to Charlotte at WrestleMania.
Kai and Ripley competed in a tightly contested affair for the No. 1 contendership, but Kai benefited from Mercedes Martinez interfering in the match and taking out Ripley, which allowed Kai to hit her with a big kick for the win.
The win over Ripley was arguably the biggest of Kai's career to that point, and it put her in position to take part in the biggest match of her career at TakeOver.
While Kai has been a success in NXT, her opportunities for singles gold have been few and far between. She has often taken a backseat to the likes of Shirai, Ripley, Shayna Baszler, Kairi Sane, Bianca Belair and others, but she was finally given the chance to assume a large chunk of the spotlight at TakeOver.
Kai acquitted herself well and likely earned herself more big matches in the future, but given how early it is in Shirai's reign, she was never really in danger of dropping the strap.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).