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#9 Io Shirai's descent into darkness
Io Shirai started the year as the ultimate babyface, flying all over the place and winning her matches with seamless finesse. She looked like the one who would dethrone Shayna Baszler as NXT Women's Champion. Shirai faced Baszler at Takeover XXV, but lost an agonizingly close contest. Her frustrations boiled over in the following few weeks.
After an unlucky defeat in a steel cage match to the Queen of Spades, Shirai turned heel by attacking Candice LeRae, who had helped to even the odds for the Genius of the Sky during her championship battles. This brought out a new dark side to Io Shirai, with a change in look, music, and overall presentation.
She defeated LeRae in a spectacular match at Takeover: Toronto in August and is now drifting across the upper echelon of the hottest division in the entire wrestling industry. Even though circumstances have not allowed her to become the champion yet, Io Shirai's move from good to bad has been nothing but a rousing success.
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