#12 Shayna Baszler
It's a shame what's happened to the NXT Women's Championship this year. What was previously one of the most prestigious titles in the company and the gold standard of women's wrestling has been degraded since Asuka vacated it. All the best matches and moments from the women's division have been on the main roster this year, which is an affront to a title that used to be the tip of the spear of the "women's revolution."
Shayna Baszler is the primary reason for this. While her first reign told a great story for a babyface to eventually overcome, that culminated at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4. Her second reign, on the other hand, just feels like it's happening because of Ronda Rousey nepotism, and with the decision to put the championship back on Baszler, we need to take stock of the facts.
Corey Graves deleted his Tweet! More details HERE.
The division has been levelled during her tenure. Few superstars feel important and Kairi Sane, the last remaining strong babyface, now faces an uncertain future. During the course of this turn of events, Baszler was at the epicentre of the worst NXT Women's Championship feud in history with Ember Moon, and also had the worst TakeOver match for the championship with Nikki Cross. The prospects of a Baszler vs. Bianca Belair feud are far from promising. Their styles are unlikely to mesh well and it will be hard to get invested in either one against the other.
For the sake of the championship and the division, we better hope that NXT employs Io Shirai well.