AEW and NXT Wednesday Night Wars: 3 winners of night #7

Kay Lee Ray

Who would’ve thought that NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray would be the main talking point coming out of Mia Yim and Io Shirai’s WarGames Advantage Ladder Match? In hindsight, this being a showcase of sorts for Ray made sense for two reasons: the result was never in question — everyone knew the heels were getting the woman advantage — and the match itself seemed to only exist as a pretense for Ray revealing herself as the final member of Shayna Baszler’s team.

The NXT writers set this up earlier in the night by having a mystery assailant take out Tegan Nox and Rhea Ripley earlier in the show. Of course, you’re expected to assume that this is the work of Dakota Kai after being left off of Ripley’s team, which was also probably why she showed up toward the end of the match.

But once Shirai moonsaulted onto her and Yim, you knew they were going in a different direction. It was a savvy way to play with a predictable wrestling trope and it was ultimately the right decision.

With the Balor turn still relatively fresh, shifting another babyface to the dark side would’ve diluted the impact of both. Plus, Kai is a natural babyface, so sacrificing that charm for the chance that she’s just as effective as a heel would’ve been an unnecessary move. What we got put Ray over as a vicious heel, even though her place in the WarGames match seems a bit contrived.