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WWE and AEW may be in competition, depending on who you ask, but many of their talents are good friends if not significant others. Giulia is one of the rising international superstars who recently arrived in WWE with a bang. Following a historic victory, one of AEW's most controversial stars shared a photo and special message with the NXT Superstar.
The Popular Troublemaker is the new NXT Women's Champion. Tuesday's live New Year's Evil special saw Giulia dethrone Roxanne Perez for the title just 128 days after debuting. The 11-minute match headlined the first NXT episode of 2025, which aired live from the Shrine Expo Hall in LA. Giulia made her wrestling debut back in October 2017 but really made her name after joining Stardom in 2019. The English-born Japanese grappler teamed up with—and locked up with—another viral star from Stardom who is currently causing controversy in AEW: Mina Shirakawa.
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The Venus of Pro Wrestling and The Gladiator of Glorias began facing off in Stardom multi-woman tag team action in November 2020. Giulia has won two of their three singles matches, which all came during Stardom's 5STAR Grand Prix in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Giulia has been a hot topic of discussion since her win over Perez at NXT New Year's Evil. The new Women's Champion of WWE's third brand received congratulatory messages from countless fans and colleagues, including Shirakawa. The Stardom signee, who also appears for AEW, ROH, and RevPro, took to her Instagram Stories to praise her former rival. Mina also shared a photo from when she and Giulia reunited in the United States last year.
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"Last year, I met her in the US. As always, She's incredible powerhouse! [star emoji] I'm motivated to push myself even further. Congratulations from the bottom of my heart [heart with stars emoji] @0221giulia [heart with flames emoji]," Mina Shirakawa wrote with the photo below.
Giulia earned her title shot by winning the Women's Iron Survivor Challenge last month. Shirakawa failed to dethrone friend and foe Mariah May of the AEW Women's World Championship last month. She then dropped the RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship to Mercedes Moné at Wrestle Dynasty on Friday, making the former Sasha Banks of WWE a triple champion as she was already AEW TBS Champion and NJPW Strong Women's Champion.
First WWE NXT PLE of 2025 announced
WWE is set to take its NXT brand on the road more often in 2025. The first NXT episode of the year, New Year's Evil, was held in Los Angeles at the Shrine Expo Hall last night.
NXT will head to the nation's capital for the first PLE of the year, which will be the brand's fifth annual Vengeance Day show. The big event will air live from the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, DC, on Saturday, February 15. Tickets go on sale this Friday.
Vengeance Day 2025 will air on Peacock in the United States and on Netflix in international markets. The 2024 event took place at F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, TN, with an attendance of 3,970.
