NXT UK crowns its first women's champion

Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/08/26/nxt-uk-crowns-its-first-womens-champion/

The latest set of NXT UK tapings took place this weekend at the Insomnia Gaming Festival in Birmingham, England. The tapings centered around an eight-woman tournament to crown the first NXT UK women’s champion.

Rhea Ripley became the NXT UK women’s champion by defeating Toni Storm in the finals.

The ceremony to crown Ripley with the title included Paul Levesque and Johnny Saint presenting her with the championship.


Below are the results from the tournament:
*Rhea Ripley over Xia Brookside in the opening round
*Toni Storm over Isla Dawn in the opening round
*Jinny over Millie McKenzie in the opening round
*Dakota Kai over Nina Samuels in the opening round
*Rhea Ripley over Dakota Kai in the semi-finals
*Toni Storm over Jinny in the semi-finals
*Rhea Ripley over Toni Storm in the final

Ripley is 21-years old and began wrestling in 2013 in her native Australia. She signed with the WWE last year and participated in last year’s Mae Young Classic, losing in the second round to Dakota Kai. She will also be competing in this year’s tournament, which was taped earlier this month and will premiere on Wednesday, September 5th on the WWE Network.

1 Like

Woah!! Good chance Toni Storm wins the Mae Young Classic.

My money is on Io Shirai. Keep in mind that Io is the more well known and well regarded superstar to come from Stardom. Kairi Hojo had alot of great matches with her (and Kana/Asuka) but Io is an incredible in ring talent that alot of people in the USA don’t know. Toni will go pretty far I think but my guess is they will want to build up Io who is far less known over here. They might even have Storm over on the NXT UK brand.

The originally planned MYC Final was Toni Storm vs. Tegan Nox, so it seems pretty nailed on that Toni is beating Io. If she wasn’t, she’d have won this title instead of Rhea.

I’m surprised they went with Rhea as champ, she wasn’t in my top 3 at all. She’s pretty young as well. As for the MYC, I’m liking Toni now but wouldn’t be surprised to see Io win, although I think after Kairi won last year they may go with Toni over Io. I’m extra upset about Nox’s injury now hearing that her and Toni was the original planned final, that would have been great.

Teagan Nox was/is Nixon Newell right? She was awesome on the indies in the various stuff I saw her in. I haven’t seen enough of Rhea to say. If WWE has signed Toni I think it will come down to Toni and Io. I could see either win, I think Io needs it more though. Toni can get over just from her awesome promos and attitude. Its gonna be a tougher battle for Io because of the language barrier. Her in ring style is much closer to Asuka than Kairi though, so that will help her with the NXT crowd.

Nox is Nixon Newell, I loved her stuff on the indies. The lucky thing about the MYC is the setting as that crowd is a lot more open then most others. Io will be loved by that crowd I bet.

Surprised Storm didn’t win the title, but as said before, it could be because she’ll win the Mae Young Classic, potentially becoming more of a fixture over here.

Ripley struck me as a blue chipper prospect when I saw her in the MYC last year and learned she was under contract. Potentially lots of upside to shine on her own in a different NXT brand.