Five Women Who Could Dethrone Shayna Baszler

To my surprise, Shayna Baszler successfully retained her NXT Women’s championship in a huge fatal four way during Wrestlemania weekend. The NXT Takeover: New York event highlighted just how strong the women’s division is on the black and gold brand is! Now, I and many were expecting Baszler to drop her title during this match up but with the Queen of Spades retaining the question arises; just who will dethrone the dominant Shayna Baszler?

Candice LeRae

Despite not finding herself involved in the women’s championship scene as of yet, Candice LeRae is a woman fans continue to want to see more of! As a long-time fan, I can tell you that we haven’t seen a fraction of what Candice can do and the best really is yet to come! We have, however, witness LeRae collide with the champ on several different occasions and the pair share good chemistry and great potential to put on a fantastic match. In the coming months I’m truly hoping to see more of Candice on NXT tv, easing her way into the title picture and with husband Johnny Gargano standing as the NXT champ it would be cool to see husband and wife standing at the top of the NXT roster as champion.

Bianca Belair

From a woman who hasn’t had an opportunity to a woman running out of opportunities we next have Bianca Belair on this list. Now, fans have witnessed Belair tap out to Baszler twice both at back to back Takeover events and so including her, today may appear a little odd, however, Bianca is a woman I don’t want to see at the back of the line just yet! If Belair can be given one last chance at the title, possibly even a two out of three falls match that forces her to either win or leave the title picture completely the NXT universe can truly get involved and feel more invested in Bianca than ever before. This is a woman who really can bring so much to the NXT championship and with such a great story and strong chemistry built between her and the champ she is most certainly a favourite on this list. Not to mention, a huge win on a random episode of NXT would be pretty special and cool!

Mia Yim

Talking of great chemistry, former roommates Mia Yim and Shayna Baszler share fantastic chemistry in the ring together. Seeing them collide a few times during their WWWE care the two have already put on a great contest and if new names are to come forward to challenge the champ then Yim most certainly is a favourite. She too is another talent we haven’t seen as much of as I would have liked but standing as such a popular name on the roster and a big-time threat to Baszler the WWE have a great opportunity here to crown Mia the new champ and, in the process, create a fantastic story we haven’t seen from Baszler’s reign. It's here the WWE have the chance to explore a more personal angle for Baszler and that kind of story would result in the perfect way to dethrone a woman who has been extremely dominant throughout her reign.

Io Shirai

In my opinion, the favourite in this entire list and most likely to go on to dethrone Shayna Baszler is Io Shirai. The former Mae Young Classic competitor had a fantastic showing during the fatal four-way match at NXT Takeover New York a couple of weeks back and she is yet to get a one on one opportunity at the title. With such a standout perforce during Wrestlemania weekend and seeing the impact, she has already made I have no doubt that Io is a serious contender and threat to the title. I’m also very confident that upon sharing the ring together Shiari will really bring out the best we have seen from Baszler and a fantastic matchup will be presented here.

Personal Pick – Deonnao Purrazzo

And finally, I really wanted to include a personal pick, a superstar I would love to see surprise everyone and take possession of the NXT Women’s championship and the woman I have picked is, of course, Deonnao Purrazzo. Now, we haven’t seen very much of Purrazzo since her signing at all but with so much to bring to the table and truly a fantastic all-around professional wrestler this is a woman destined to be a champion one day, however, with little appearance for NXT TV and next to no booking it may be a while till we see Deonnao in the picture let alone champion. It must be said, however, that I believe Purrazzo vs Baszler would make for a fantastic match considering the similarities the two share in the ring. A win over Baszler would be both a huge surprise and risk but if there is anyone the WWE should consider for such a victory it most certainly is this woman!

Shayna Baszler has had a very dominant run as NXT Women’s champion, but it will most certainly one day come to an end. I would, of course, love to know what you guys think and who you believe will become the new NXT Women’s champion so feel free to leave a comment below or tweet me over at @TezangiVictoria.