NXT’s main event showcased the depth of their women’s division

It was a very eventful night on NXT. And with their men’s scene is a state of flux due to the call-up of Keith Lee and the injury to Karrion Kross, Triple H & team leaned on their strength to anchor the Aug. 26 episode - the women’s division.

The tag match between Women’s champ Io Shirai & Rhea Ripley and Dakota Kai & Raquel González was set-up last Saturday at TakeOver: XXX. Shirai successful defended her belt against Kai, and Ripley saved Io from a post-match beatdown by Dakota and her heater.

That focused attention on a hoss fight between Ripley and González, and that was certainly a theme of the tag match on the fallout show.

But heading into the match, the former NXT UK and NXT Women’s champ told everyone that she hadn’t saved Shirai on Saturday - she was sending the current champ a message.

Io & Rhea actually didn’t run into many issues as a team, although the cohesiveness of Kai & González did give them an advantage. It was the arrival of another potential Ripley foe - Mercedes Martinez - that turned the tide.

Last Wednesday, the Australian powerbombed the veteran Martinez over the barricade and onto the floor. That was payback for Mercedes attacking Rhea during her #1 contender match with Dakota. It also led to Raquel pinning Ripley, the biggest win of her career.

There are a lot of moving parts in the Women’s scene, and all of them are pretty exciting match-ups. That’s without even mentioning the Candice LeRae/Tegan Nox program they’re slow-burning, or the rise of Shotzi Blackheart (which continued with an upset win over Mia Yim earlier in the show... after she ran over Robert Stone with her tank for the third time).

If the men need time to figure things out, the ladies of NXT are ready to carry the load.