NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2019 match predictions

Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Mia Yim- NXT Women’s Championship Match

This championship reign has to end at some point, right? In her 415 combined days as Women’s Champion, Baszler has flourished as NXT’s lead villainess, but the copy-and-paste outcomes of her last few defenses have evoked bad memories of Triple H’s Reign of Terror from the early 2000s.

Granted, her convincing wins haven’t buried any of her opponents, but it’s getting to the point where she has run through all of the top competition and, with few women left on the NXT roster who could believably challenge for her title, the writers are running out chances to transfer the champion’s heat onto a worthy successor.

Perhaps Mia Yim is that person. There’s a strong case for Yim dethroning Baszler and while the writers went with a more generic classism storyline instead of leaning into Yim and Baszler’s history, having Yim take out Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir makes a title change more probable.

Removing Duke and Shafir not only ensures that the match won’t suffer from the usual interference that bogs down most Baszler matches, but it also gives Yim little excuse if she succumbs to the Kirifuda Clutch.

It could be a red herring, but everything seems aligned for a Yim victory. A Baszler retention is always possible, but it’s time for her to put someone over.

Prediction: Mia Yim pins Shayna Baszler, wins the NXT Women’s Championship