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Asuka Makes Her Entrance
William Regal takes the microphone and tells the WWE NXT Universe to welcome Asuka, the NXT Women’s Champion. It’s a highly-anticipated moment that will close out the show, as the most-dominant champion in, perhaps, the history of WWE seems to be poised to vacate her championship due to her broken collarbone (and the fact that it would be a travesty to see her lose an actual match while in NXT).
Asuka gets a huge babyface pop from the crowd before even speaking as “Asuka!” chants reverberate across Full Sail. She says that he’s been in NXT for almost two years and is quickly greeted by cheers and “Thank you, Asuka!” chants.
EXCLUSIVE: As he weighs options for how to handle the vacant #WWENXT #WomensTitle, @RealKingRegal reflects on @WWEAsuka's dominance. pic.twitter.com/c6dmEmFvkA
— WWE (@WWE) September 7, 2017
She puts over all the talent she has faced in her time at NXT and says, “I love NXT,” not once, but twice, adding that she grew so much at NXT and is grateful for the brand. Following this heartfelt promo, Regal says that Asuka has always defended her title with honor and has been willing to risk everything to defend the NXT Women’s Championship.
Regal says that he and Asuka are negotiating with Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan, but he says that this means Asuka will be “stepping down as NXT Women’s Champion”. This confirms what fans had suspected for a while.
Asuka finishes this off by proclaiming “Nobody is ready for Asuka!”, and nothing could be more true than that simple statement. I can’t wait to see how she ravages through the main roster, because she’s simply one of the greatest wrestlers I have witnessed in my lifetime. As Regal said, this is such a bittersweet moment, but we can take solace in Asuka’s words that NXT will always follow her. Man, it’s going to be weird to watch the women’s division without her, but there’s so much talent that I’m sure they won’t miss a beat.
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Ember Moon comes out as the audience cries “One more match!”. Moon returns the “snubbed handshake”, because she wants them to embrace. That match they had at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III capped off an incredible rivalry with one of the greatest women’s matches in wrestling history, so this was yet another special moment.
Triple H closed the show by hugging Asuka, bringing out some roses, and raising her hand to a chorus of “You deserve it!” chants with the whole NXT roster applauding on the ramp. Asuka is simply the GOAT.