This year’s WWE Draft saw NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell get called up to the main roster, as she was formally drafted to the Raw brand. Since Hartwell felt she could no longer regularly defend her title on Tuesdays, she relinquished it in early May, setting up an eight-woman tournament to crown a new face of the NXT women’s division. Later that month, NXT Battleground hosted the finals of the tournament, where Tiffany Stratton defeated Lyra Valkyria to become the new WWE NXT Women’s Champion.
In the months since, Stratton has feuded with Chase U’s Thea Hail, whom she has successfully defended her title against twice and last night retained against Kiana James. Following her victory, Becky Lynch appeared on the NXT TitanTron to let Stratton know that next week, The Man will be coming around, as the two women will face off in the main event for Buff Barbie’s championship. Lynch noted in her address to Stratton that despite holding the WWE Raw and Smackdown Women’s Championships on multiple occasions, she has never held the NXT Women’s title, and she plans to add that to her resume.
Lynch is coming off a win of her own, as this past Saturday night at WWE Payback, she defeated Trish Stratus in a Steel Cage match. Following the bout, Stratus slapped her protege and former NXT star Zoey Stark, setting off a physical confrontation between them, officially breaking the two up as an act.
Elsewhere on NXT last night, Mustafa Ali defeated Dragon Lee in a number-one contender match for the WWE NXT North American Championship. The current champion, The Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio, served as the guest referee for the bout, and, in the end, Ali came out on top. Ali and Mysterio will now face off for the WWE NXT North American Championship at NXT No Mercy on September 30.