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#3 Io Shirai retains her title against Candice LeRae at NXT TakeOver 31
This was one of the most anticipated matches of NXT TakeOver 31 as Candice LeRae challenged Io Shirai for the Women’s Championship. While LeRae’s husband wasn’t able to bag the gold early in the night, she had a huge chance to pick up her first title in WWE.
Shirai took the fight to her challenger early and both women worked over each other with holds and submission maneuvers. The Poison Pixie and The Jodi Judas continued to deliver some breathtaking moves in a back-and-forth contest.
Shirai locked LeRae in the crossface at one point in the match, and The Poison Pixie countered it with the Gargano Escape. The referee was knocked out by LeRae, following which Johnny Gargano appeared in a referee’s shirt to pose as the official in the match.
The couple tried to end Shirai’s reign as the NXT Women’s Champion together, but she kept fighting to stay on top.
Johnny Wrestling slyly slid the title belt to LeRae as he argued with the actual referee, and LeRae blasted Shirai with it. However, The Jodi Judas still kicked out of the pin. She recovered to plant LeRae with the Spanish Fly followed by a moonsault to pick up the victory at NXT TakeOver 31.
Shirai is arguably the best female wrestler in WWE today, and she proved once again how good she is with a great title defense. LeRae was the perfect opponent who gave Shirai a lot to play with at NXT TakeOver 31, and we hope that WWE will give us a few more matches between the two women in the coming weeks.
