WWE NXT: It’s time for Shayna Baszler to lose her title

Candice LeRae is set to challenge Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship. Is now the right time for Baszler’s reign to finally end?

Many people are calling this week the start of the so-called “Wednesday Night Wars” between AEW and WWE. AEW has their premiere show on TNT this week, and WWE is seemingly countering with a Takeover-caliber NXT episode as the black-and-yellow brand moves to two hours on USA Network.

Regardless of whether or not you buy into the whole “war” narrative, you can’t help but feel that both companies are going to want their shows to have some buzzworthy moments on them.

For AEW, the mere existence of their show on network TV is more than enough to generate that buzz, but WWE is going to have to get more creative to pull out some stops.

NXT this week is set to feature three different title matches, each presenting a unique opportunity for WWE to create a memorable moment of their own.

With it presumably being unlikely that WWE will pull the plug on Undisputed Era’s undisputed reign as champions, the NXT title bout that should be primed to get the wrestling world talking is Shayna Baszler’s defense of her NXT Women’s Championship against Candice LeRae.

Baszler has well over a year’s worth of time as champion under her belt between her two reigns in NXT. She’s arguably the most dominant force the brand has seen considering she’s beat just about everyone in the women’s division at one point or another.

Therein lies the problem though. There’s nothing left for Baszler to accomplish in NXT, and it seems like she’s been in somewhat of a holding pattern for awhile now as a result.

Baszler is more than ready to grab the spotlight that SmackDown or Raw provides, making her a prime candidate to be “called-up” at any point now, if we still want to use that terminology.

She’s talented both in the ring and on the mic, and already has a charisma about her that should serve well against the likes of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and others. With SmackDown’s move to Fox, it seems like it would be an ideal time to add someone like that to WWE’s flagship brands.

The only obstacle to Baszler’s brand switch would seemingly be her reign as NXT Women’s Champion then, which now is conveniently at stake this week against a game opponent.

Candice LeRae is a more than suitable superstar to carry the NXT women’s division into the future. Like Baszler, she already has lots of the qualities necessary to excel in WWE, and therefore should make for a great champion.

If recent events are any indication, she may also have an attention-grabbing challenger right off the bat too.

Rhea Ripley’s recent feud with Shayna Baszler could easily lead “The Mosh Pit Kid” to stake her claim on the women’s title. Anyone who’s remotely followed NXT UK should probably be familiar with how great of a heel Ripley can be, meaning she could be an ideal challenger to usher in the first babyface NXT Women’s Champion since Kairi Sane.

Ripley once again leaning more strongly towards her old, more heelish ways to challenge LeRae would arguably be the ideal way to welcome in a new era of the NXT women’s division by providing the brand with a fresh, exciting rivalry as a headliner.

Overall, I think that means the timing is just about right for NXT to make a huge change to its championship pictures by having Shayna Baszler drop her title, and thereby allowing a new tone to be set in the brand’s women’s division as one of its biggest stars moves on to Raw or SmackDown.