It’s fair to say one of the most hype-inducing upcoming WWE matches will take place at NXT TakeOver: War Games 2019: the first women’s War Games match. The NXT women’s division is stacked right now, with so many quality wrestlers and plenty of rivalries. When the majority of the participants in the match were announced today on WWE’s morning YouTube talk show, The Bump, viewers learned that these War Games teams will pit rivals against each other and make some work together.
In a Breaking News segment that you can watch here, Team Captains Rhea Ripley and Shayna Baszler appeared on The Bump remotely to announce their teams. Ripley’s first pick was Tegan Nox, who she previously injured in the Mae Young Classic and then mockingly dressed up as for Halloween. Ripley cited her team-up with Nox on last week’s Smackdown and that she knows Nox will never give up as the reasons she was her first pick.
The second member of Team Ripley was revealed to be Candice LeRae, but the captain said she’s “not sure about the final pick.” When Kayla Braxton brought up Nox’s teammate Dakota Kai, Ripley said Kai is a “decent competitor,” but she doesn’t know if she’s as good of a “fighter” as she wants on her side in the War Games cage. This prompted Kai to tweet later in the show that she’ll prove she deserves a spot on the team, which led to a scheduled Kai vs. Baszler match on tonight’s NXT.
Baszler, who urged Ripley to just pick Kai, chose Bianca Belair and Io Shirai for her team. She refused to reveal her fourth pick until she hears Ripley’s fourth pick, but she did reveal it won’t be Jessamyn Duke or Marina Shafir, saying “I’ve seen enough War Games matches to know you need friends on the outside sometimes, so I’m playing my cards smart.”
