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Instead of waiting for the management to determine her No.1 contender, NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai is calling her own shots.
During this week's episode of NXT, the Genius Of The Sky challenged former Champion Rhea Ripley to one more match.
Io Shirai is a confident Champion
Shirai pinned Ripley in a Triple Threat Championship match at NXT TakeOver: In Your House also featuring Charlotte Flair. It kicked off a long-overdue title reign for the Genius of the Sky. During her current Championship run, she's defeated the likes of Candice LeRae, Shotzi Blackheart, Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai.
After a successful title defense at Halloween Havoc against LeRae, it left Io Shirai waiting for her next challenger. Since she was unable to defeat the Nightmare one on one when Ripley was the NXT Women's Champion, it appears as if the Genius Of The Sky is pulling a page out of Becky Lynch's playbook. When Lynch as RAW Women's Champion, she called out Asuka as the Empress Of Tomorrow was someone The Man couldn't defeat.
NXT's Women's division is arguably the most stacked in all of professional wrestling. Including the women mentioned above, we also have Ember Moon, Toni Storm and Candice LeRae. Whenever the NXT Women's title is mentioned at any turn, Ripley always pops up to stake her claim. The Nightmare must have been listening during Shirai's challenge because it didn't take very long for her to respond.
Rhea Ripley responds to Io Shirai's chalenge
The Nightmare has stated that she is more than ready for another shot at the NXT Women's Championship.
Now that the challenge has been made and accepted within the span of 20 minutes, when will it take place? Will the women wait until the next TakeOver event in December or will it headline an upcoming episode of NXT TV?
Whenever it happens, there could easily be a title change. The Royal Rumble is fast approaching and both women are more than ready for the main roster in WWE.
