Women’s title match official for NXT TakeOver
Candice LeRae is the new number one contender to the NXT Women’s Championship.
LeRae won a number one contender’s battle royal on NXT tonight and will challenge Io Shirai for the NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver on Sunday, October 4. LeRae last eliminated Shotzi Blackheart to win the battle royal.
LeRae, Blackheart, Dakota Kai, Kacy Catanzaro, and Indi Hartwell were the final five in the battle royal. Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez had dominated during the match until eliminating each other. Ripley and Gonzalez then started to brawl with each other outside of the ring after being eliminated.
LeRae has recently been feuding with Tegan Nox. Nox was supposed to be an entrant in the battle royal, but video aired of an angle where LeRae attacked Nox’s knee earlier today.
This will be the second one-on-one match that Shirai and LeRae have had against each other at a TakeOver event. Shirai defeated LeRae at TakeOver: Toronto 2019.
Shirai vs. LeRae is the second match to be confirmed for TakeOver. LeRae’s husband Johnny Gargano will challenge for Damian Priest’s North American Championship at the October 4 event.
NXT Champion Finn Balor’s opponent for TakeOver will also be determined on NXT tonight. Kushida, Cameron Grimes, Kyle O’Reilly, Timothy Thatcher, and Bronson Reed are facing off in a gauntlet eliminator match to determine the challenger for Balor’s title.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.