First things first... Bianca’s Belair’s attire has been amazing this month, and her gear for TakeOver: Portland tonight (Feb. 16) may have been her best yet.
It's time for Bianca vs Rhea #BiancaBelAir #ESTofNXT #NXTTakeover #NXTTakeoverPortland pic.twitter.com/3Sih1piJIc
— Bianca-Belair.Com | Fansite (@BiancaBCom) February 17, 2020
With that out of the way, the issue hanging over The EST’s match against NXT Women’s champion Rhea Ripley was Ripley’s WrestleMania challenge to Charlotte Flair. It seemed to make the match at Moda Center a foregone conclusion - especially with rumors and conventional wisdom saying Flair would make an appearance at TakeOver.
It didn’t stop the two rising stars from giving it everything they had...
#TheNightmare @RheaRipley_WWE lowers the BOOM on @BiancaBelairWWE but it's not enough to put the #ESTofNXT away in this BATTLE for the #NXTWomensTitle at #NXTTakeOver: Portland! pic.twitter.com/CEdyIW7wSJ
— WWE (@WWE) February 17, 2020
THE strongEST! @BiancaBelairWWE
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_wrestling) February 17, 2020
➡️ https://t.co/NsQTgz3q4X pic.twitter.com/qEiHNYSACt
But in the end, a battle on the turnbuckles ended with Riptide, and the expected result. It was just the set-up for what everyone expected, though... read about that here.
For a complete rundown of everything that happened in Portland tonight, head to our live blog here.