AEW and NXT Wednesday Night War: 3 winners of night #14

The women who lasted toward the end of the Number One Contender’s Battle Royal, but particularly Bianca Belair

Generally, battle royals tend to register pretty low on the Wrestling Fan Excitement Richter Scale (the Royal Rumble, when it’s well booked, is the exception to this rule), so give these ladies credit for injecting some drama and exhilaration into a match that often gets bogged down to wrestlers pretending to throw each other over the top rope for several minutes.

NXT’s television main event gave us all sorts of fun stuff. We got surprise appearances by Shayna Baszler — who gave newcomer Shotzi Blackheart a bit of a rub — and Kacey Catanzaro — who clearly watched some Private Party matches during her time away.

We saw Mercedez Martinez compete in what was her first match as an officially contracted WWE talent, where she traded blows with her former SHIMMER comrade Baszler. Tegan Nox, decked out in Captain Marvel-inspired ring gear, ran wild on the heels in a manner not too dissimilar from how the climax of that movie played out…until Dakota Kai yanked her off the top rope, eliminating her and continue their burgeoning feud. And these were just a handful of the highlights from the final few minutes of this bout.

In the end, it came down to the top heels in the division: Belair and Io Shirai. The action was as amazing as you’d expect from the rapidly-improving Belair and arguably the best women’s wrestler walking this planet. After a few tense elimination teases and some strong workrate in between, Belair finally dumped Shirai out with the K.O.D. and earned herself a title shot against Rhea Ripley at NXT TakeOver: Portland.

Given that we don’t see too many hoss fights in the WWE’s women’s divisions, Belair and Ripley’s match should stand out from the usual fare we get from the ladies, and if they match their effort from Oct. 23, we will be in for a treat.