WWE: Rhea Ripley wins the NXT Women’s Championship

After 416 days as the WWE NXT Women’s Champion, Shayna Baszler is unseated of her title by Rhea Ripley on the latest Dec.18 episode.

Throughout the majority of her second reign with the title, after she won it at the WWE Evolution Pay-Per-View, few believed that Shayna Baszler would ever lose the NXT Women’s Championship.

No matter who was put in her path, she bulldozed through her competition. You name ’em. Bianca Belair, Kairi Sane, Io Shirai, Mia Yim, Candice LeRae … they all stepped up only to get knocked down by Shayna Two Times. But then came Rhea Ripley.

Ripley, fresh off of an inaugural reign as the NXT UK Women’s Champion, made her presence felt on NXT TV with an Aug. 28 staredown confrontation. And these two have been on a collision course with each other ever since.

After Ripley was able to pin Baszler during WarGames last month, their feud was able to culminate (or, at the very least, reach a tipping point) tonight, Dec. 18, when the two squared off one on one in a title match. Well, it certainly became one on one, truly, after Ripley was able to ward off Baszler’s Horsewomen halfway into the match.

The match itself reached a thrilling conclusion in its finale moments. After trying to avoid it for so long, Ripley was finally subdued by the Kirifuda Clutch that helped Baszler defeat so many foes in the past.

Just when it looked like Ripley was seconds away from passing out, adrenaline kicked into high gear as she miraculously fought her way out of the hold. The two battled their way up to the top rope where Ripley was able to hit a Riptide off the top before covering Baszler for the one … two … three!

Lo and behold, for the first time in 416 days, we have a new NXT Women’s Champion. And her name is Rhea Ripley.

Who do you want to see face Ripley for her title first?