WWE NXT TakeOver: New York Match Card Predictions Version 2.0

Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Io Shirai- NXT Women’s Championship Match

Even though she failed to win the NXT Women’s Championship from Shayna Baszler at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, Bianca Belair seemed like she was in good position to get another crack at the “Queen of Spades” at TakeOver: New York.

After all, the writers made sure to protect “The EST” by giving her a visual pinfall and mucking up the end of the match with interference by the champion’s henchwomen Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir to give Belair an out for losing. Between that and Sam Robert’s boneheaded remarks toward her earlier that evening, everything seemed set for Belair to work her way back into title contention to vanquish Baszler in Brooklyn. You know, a good babyface story.

Instead, we saw high-flying savant Io Shirai pin Baszler during a six-woman tag match alongside Belair and Kairi Sane against three of the MMA Four Horsewomen a week and a half later on NXT. This led to Belair complaining and campaigning for another title shot in a heelish manner — babyfaces don’t continue to say that they’re “UN-DE-FEA-TED” after they’ve lost no matter what mental gymnastics they use to justify their position — which then forced general manager William Regal to book a number one contenders match between Belair and Shirai for the March 13 NXT.

There’s a chance that the Belair/Shirai match ends in some sort of tie, which could lead to a triple threat match involving those two and Baszler. But NXT doesn’t book too many multi-person matches, so if they choose one, it will likely be “The Genius of the Sky”.