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Near the beginning of 2021, NXT's women's division was a little worn down. Rhea Ripley and Charlotte left the brand, Tegan Nox was injured and they needed to load up and give us some fresh match-ups.
Well, thanks to an influx of new competitors alongside the debut of the women's Dusty Cup, NXT's women's division has become a major highlight for the brand. Not to mention the great title bouts we've seen in the past six months.
Frankly, there's been a lot to enjoy regarding the women's division of the black and gold brand, especially when it comes to the weekly show. With the year halfway over, it's time to check out some of the best NXT TV bouts from the women's division. Much like the earlier list, we'll be staying away from anything that happened on NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night One.
#5 Raquel González vs Mercedes Martinez for the NXT Women's Championship - NXT May 11th, 2021
NXT Women's Champion Raquel González is only a few months into her run. However, she's already had some strong title wins and retentions. A powerhouse, González has been someone many on the roster have struggled to bring down. In the end, she was responsible for sending Rhea Ripley to the WWE main roster.
After taking the title from Io Shirai at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, her first feud was with a dominant powerhouse in her own right, Mercedes Martinez. The two had been on a collision course for a month, and we'd seen them brawl throughout the CWC a few times over.
On May 11th, we finally got to witness these two go to war, and that's the best way to describe what we saw.
Mercedes Martinez started off strong, taking the champion to the floor and into the barricade with a big flying knee. González refused to be knocked around, and threw her fair share of heavy shots as well. However, it seemed that Martinez had her number, especially when she hit a spear on the apron.
When Raquel González turned things around with an alley-oop bomb into the ropes, she hammered her challenger with some seriously nasty offense. She used the ring to her advantage, driving Martinez's shoulder into the ring post. A clothesline set up for the powerbomb, but Martinez had enough life to escape.
After a series of knees to the jaw, Martinez seemed ready to finish off the champion. What we've learned over the past year, though, is that you never count the champion out. González looked to be on death's door, but avoided a final shot from the challenger to floor her with a big boot.
After that, Martinez was unable to avoid that vicious one-armed powerbomb. It was a great hoss fight, and one that proved both Mercedes Martinez and NXT Women's Champion Raquel González aren't anyone the roster should want to toy with.
After the match, González revealed that she respected the veteran, much to the dismay of Dakota Kai.
#4 Sarray vs Zoey Stark - NXT April 10th, 2021
NXT has brought in several new stars for their women's division, and two that have stood out quite well are Zoey Stark and Sarray. Stark debuted earlier this year in the NXT Women's Dusty Cup alongside the recently released Marina Shafir.
Since then, she's pulled out some phenomenal performances against the likes of Toni Storm, Dakota Kai and even NXT Women's Champion Raquel González. However, her most impressive showing this year featured another newcomer.
Sarray's debut match in NXT saw her face off against Stark. Though she'd only recently joined the roster, this match proved that Stark, as well as Sarray, are worth turning into major players.
Stark had a major power advantage, but was never able to keep the newest signee on the mat, as Sarray would simply slide out from under her.
After taking over with a dropkick to the knee, Sarray began to wear down Stark. A classic Muta Lock was synched in, but Stark managed to break away after crawling to the bottom ropes.
Stark folded Sarray in half with a hellacious basement clothesline, and a half-and-half suplex made it look like Sarray was done for. She nearly got the upset with a sliding knee but somehow, Sarray was just able to kick out.
Sarray got away from a 450 Splash but couldn't escape the educated feet of Stark. Again, she showed the NXT fans how great her resilience was, kicking out of another nasty roundhouse. After a few strikes of her own, Sarray dumped Stark on her head with a high-angle exploder suplex for the victory.
In most debut matches, the fresh face absolutely dominates their opponent. However, NXT opted to do something different with this one, giving both Sarray and Zoey Stark some major time to shine in what wound up being one of the better matches of the year.
#3 The Way vs Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart in the Dusty Cup semi-finals - NXT February 10th, 2021
NXT had been using the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic for several years by the time 2021 kicked off. This year would see the sixth installment for the men, but WWE decided to double down, introducing a women's tournament as well.
While the original prize was for a shot at the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles, the eventual winners ended up being crowned the NXT Women's Tag Team Champions. Interestingly enough, both teams in this match would win the titles soon after.
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell of The Way faced off against beloved duo Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon in the semi-finals of NXT's Dusty Cup.
In the early goings of the match, Moon and Blackheart had The Way's number. Hartwell found this out when she took a codebreaker/question mark kick combination. Veteran Candice LeRae was the one to turn things around for her team, launching Moon to the floor and into the announcer's desk.
LeRae was a major highlight reel in this one, giving us some great moments like a rope-walking hurricanrana that sent her opponents into one another. Later on in the match, Hartwell and Moon were tangled up in the ropes, and LeRae capitalized with a Quebrada, and it seemed that The Way were well on...well...their way to the finals.
In the end, Moon's Eclipse and Shotzi's diving senton were just too much for Hartwell to stand. With that, they moved onto NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day. Now, this wasn't the best match-up that we've gotten out of these two teams, but we'll get to that later.
#2 Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter vs Raquel González and Dakota Kai in the Dusty Cup semi-finals - NXT February 3rd, 2021
One of the biggest surprises to come out of the NXT Dusty Cup was Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter. Though they'd teamed several times in the previous year, they really came into their own throughout the tournament.
They had a tough fight ahead of them as they faced Dakota Kai and Raquel González, two of the fiercest wrestlers on the brand. Catanzaro controlled the early goings of the match, surprisingly dominating NXT veteran Kai.
However, when Carter tagged in, she came face-to-face with the one-woman wrecking machine known as Raquel González. Surprisingly, though, Carter was able to defy the odds, taking on Kai and González by herself for several minutes.
Though it didn't take long before Carter had fallen to the numbers game, she was able to get back to her partner and keep their hopes alive. Genuinely, for most of this match, it seemed that the underdogs were going to pull it off.
Kacy Catanzaro was on fire in this match, as NXT's resident Ninja Warrior showed off some incredible acrobatic maneuvers. Her dive onto her opponents off one of the steel structures near the ring was incredible.
After Carter and Catanzaro spiked González with a rope-assisted piledriver, Catanzaro followed with a corkscrew splash.
Somehow, González was able to kick out of all of that punishment. Though this match was meant to show that Carter and Catanzaro were one of the best kept secrets on the roster, it also sent González and Kai to the finals.
González drove Catanzaro into the mat with her one-armed powerbomb, setting them up for a date with Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart at Vengeance Day.
#1 Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart vs The Way in a Street Fight for the Tag Titles - NXT May 4th, 2021
In a rematch from the NXT Dusty Cup earlier in the year, we saw these two teams fight for the NXT Tag Team Titles. Their rivalry had only strengthened in the previous few months, with Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell, Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon attacking one another almost every week.
The Way had been a major problem for Blackheart well before that, though. Candice even ran over Blackheart's old tank back in November. Considering all of that, these two teams more than earned their street fight.
Being a street fight, these NXT Superstars made sure to use everything around and under the ring to get the edge. Indi Hartwell was crushed inside a trashcan with a pair of dropkicks from the champions and almost met a worse fate.
Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon placed her on a tower of chairs, but before Shotzi could crash into her, they were blinded by Candice LeRae with a fire extinguisher.
Hartwell and Blackheart traded table spots as well. With Hartwell laid out on the announcers' desk, Blackheard moved to the top of a steel structure, flattening her from on high.
However, Hartwell had her own extreme moment, hitting a springboard elbow drop from the ring to Ember Moon, who'd been set up on a table on the floor.
With Moon taken care of, LeRae drove Blackheart's face into a steel chair with the Wicked Step Sister. These two teams went to war in a destructive Street Fight. It's one that we'll definitely be talking about when NXT looks into their year-end awards.
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