Almost six years after first winning the NXT Women’s Championship May 29, 2014 at an NXT TakeOver that didn’t even require a subtitle, Charlotte Flair is holding that title again after beating Rhea Ripley in the first match on Night Two of WrestleMania 36. Of course the belt is different now — it was pink way back in 2014 — and the brand has considerably more prestige now that NXT isn’t “officially” considered developmental and airs on USA instead of the WWE Network.
The match was pretty brutal, and thanks to the lack of fans at the WWE Performance Center, you could hear not just every strike and impact, but lots of trash talk, especially from Charlotte. The Queen also played it smart, working Rhea’s leg throughout the match, including a shot from behind that made Rhea’s leg crumple pretty sickeningly.
Nevertheless, when Charlotte first applied the Figure 4, Rhea seemed determined to get out of it, striking at Charlotte with her fists. But once Charlotte bridged into the Figure 8, it was too much for Rhea, who had to tap, losing a title she won on NXT TV on December 18 of last year.
Now that Charlotte is NXT Champion, that presumably means she’ll be on NXT TV, although we don’t know exactly what that will look like after next week, considering the Coronavirus lockdown.