6 Female NXT Superstars who could be in the Royal Rumble 2020

#3 Io Shirai

Like Bianca Belair, Io Shirai is more than ready for a jump to either RAW or SmackDown. Before that, however, she needs to be a part of the Royal Rumble. Shirai did partake in last year's match, but that was as a smiling babyface. As things currently sit, she is a maniacal heel with a whole new persona and look.

For that reason, she'll likely still be around NXT for a while. It will make things hard with a heel Champion in Baszler, but Shirai could challenge whoever dethrones the Queen of Spades. Until then, however, the Genius of the Sky is a slam dunk pick to participate in the 2020 Royal Rumble match.

We saw a few stare downs between her and Kairi Sane during both the Survivor Series elimination match and during a few of the brawls. They could easily have another one in the match or she could have a heated confrontation with Asuka. Like the other women on Team NXT at Survivor Series, Shirai has had plenty of time in front of the WWE Universe. The crowd knows who she is and loves her. I just hope she doesn't miss out due to someone else getting a push, like Xia Li. Li has a long way to go but Shirai is already primed for another Rumble.

About the author

Matt Serocki is a sports journalist from outside of Boston, Massachusetts who has written about sports for a local newspaper, the MetroWest Daily News.

Matt has written about professional wrestling for the past year but has been writing lyrics, short stories and novels in his spare time. He writes around 30-50 articles per month.

During his time on writing for Sportskeeda, Matt has written about a variety of topics including the history of the business as well as about the current stars and product. He follows numerous promotions like the WWE, AEW, ROH, MLW, NJPW, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and WOW.

Studied Communications with a focus on writing at Framingham State University from 2000-2004.

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Edited by Alan John