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WWE Announces Huge Matches for NXT Champions Finn Balor and Io Shirai

Published 09/24/2020, 10:22 AM EDT

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WWE NXT TakeOver is less than a month away. To keep things moving, WWE has announced two headliner title matches for Finn Balor and Io Shirai, the men’s and women’s champion, respectively. Last night’s “Takeoff to TakeOver” edition of NXT set the pace for the pay-per-view.

WWE confirms matches for NXT champions

Last night’s NXT featured two unique matches to determine the number one contenders for the top titles. In the main event, five men faced each other in a first-ever “gauntlet eliminator” match. Kyle O’Reilly became the new number-one contender as he defeated Kushida, Bronson Reed, Timothy Thatcher, and Cameron Grimes.

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On the other hand, in the women’s division, there was a Battle Royal to determine Champion Io Shirai’s next opponent. Candice LeRae was the last woman standing after she eliminated Shotzi Blackheart.

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This match featured talents like Rhea Ripley, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez, Catalina, Kayden Carter, Kacy Catanzaro, Aliyah, Xia Li, Marina Shafir, Indi Hartwell, Gia Roman, Raven, Ellie, and Rita Reis.

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As of now, there are three confirmed title matches for the next TakeOver event. Apart from the two top titles, Damien Priest will also defend his NXT North American Championship against Johnny Gargano.

At the previous TakeOver event in August, Shirai defended her title against Dakota Kai. However, this will be Finn Balor’s first title defense since he won the vacant title at NXT earlier this month. Hopefully, the fans will see two great matches as Balor and Shirai are both amazing competitors.

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The next NXT TakeOver event is scheduled for Sunday, October 4. It was supposed to take place at the Full Sail University campus in Winter Park, Florida, like other NXT PPVs and shows.

However, due to another possible COVID-19 outbreak at the facility, WWE might shift the PPV to the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida (like Raw, Smackdown, and main roster PPVs). Thus, the black and yellow brand could make its ThunderDome debut.

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Written by:

Angana Roy

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Angana Roy is a WWE and AEW author for EssentiallySports, having published more than 800 professional wrestling articles. She is currently pursuing higher studies in English language and literature from the University of Calcutta and has over three years of experience in journalism. As a life-long fan of the sports entertainment brand of pro-wrestling, her work consists of live coverage of weekly shows, PPVs, speculating the future course of storylines and everything in between.
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