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A 25-year-old champion had her first title defense in WWE at the Battleground show, just one night after Saturday Night's Main Event. It ended with a successful defense but nearly went the opposite way.
The opening match of NXT Battleground saw the recently-crowned NXT Women's North American Champion, Sol Ruca, defend her title against the inaugural North American Champion, Kelani Jordan. The latter had defeated Zaria, Sol Ruca's partner, to earn a title shot.
The two women proved why NXT has the most stacked division in all of WWE. In the end, however, it was Sol Ruca who had her first title defense after Zaria nearly (accidentally) cost her the match.
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It wasn't intentional from Zaria, but the referee caught her red-handed when she moved Sol Ruca out of the way when Kelani Jordan was launching herself from the top.
This directly led to the WWE official ejecting Zaria from the ringside area. But as Sol Ruca was looking on, Kelani Jordan very nearly took full advantage to reclaim her NXT Women's North American Championship. However, it didn't happen in the end, and Sol Ruca ended up retaining her title.
It certainly set the tone for an epic show in Tampa.
