{"id":87567,"date":"2021-03-24T17:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T21:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=87567"},"modified":"2021-03-25T13:14:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T17:14:36","slug":"raquel-gonzalez-next-nxt-womens-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/03\/24\/raquel-gonzalez-next-nxt-womens-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Raquel Gonz\u00e1lez Should Be the Next NXT Women’s Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

At NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver,<\/strong><\/em> Io Shirai\u00a0<\/strong>faces her toughest task yet when she takes on Raquel Gonz\u00e1lez<\/strong>. Gonz\u00e1lez has been built up over the past few months as a very credible challenger for Shirai and has been impressing people more and more with each passing performance. While Shirai has done her job as champion well, we feel it’s time for a new champion to reign in NXT. Let’s explain why.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez Is Shirai’s Biggest Threat to Date<\/h2>\n

In Io Shirai’s entire 290-day reign as NXT<\/strong> Women’s Champion, there has been no challenger with a better build-up than Raquel Gonz\u00e1lez. Not only does Gonz\u00e1lez own a rare pinfall win over Shirai, but she also defeated former champion Rhea Ripley\u00a0<\/strong>in a heated feud months ago to stake her claim as the powerhouse of the NXT Women’s Division.\u00a0 Add in the fact that Gonz\u00e1lez and her tag partner\u00a0Dakota Kai\u00a0<\/strong>have just won the first-ever women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic<\/a><\/strong><\/em> and that Gonz\u00e1lez is coming into this match with a huge wave of momentum behind her. If Gonz\u00e1lez fails to beat Shirai, NXT may be passing up the opportunity to belt up one of its hottest and best-presented stars.<\/p>\n

It’s Time For Io Shirai to Move On<\/h2>\n

As mentioned previously, Io Shirai has been atop the women’s division as its champion for 290 days. Shirai debuted in NXT at the tail end of 2018 and since then has faced almost every notable name there is in the women’s division. While many fans may not want it, we could be approaching the point where Io Shirai needs to make a move to either RAW<\/strong><\/em> or SmackDown<\/strong><\/em> to freshen things up and face some new opponents.<\/p>\n

Raquel Gonz\u00e1lez Is a Fresh Face<\/h2>\n

Ever since re-debuting as Kai’s enforcer, Gonz\u00e1lez has competed in just a handful of singles matches, against just four different opponents. With potential matches and feuds with a number of talented women waiting for her, she would freshen up the NXT title picture. Gonz\u00e1lez has more fresh matches and feuds waiting for her than almost any other woman in NXT and this makes her an excellent choice to be the woman to dethrone Io Shirai.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to the\u00a0Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0WWE Network<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Peacock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, Io Shirai\u00a0faces her toughest task yet when she takes on Raquel Gonz\u00e1lez. Gonz\u00e1lez has been built up over the past few months as a very credible challenger for Shirai and has been impressing people more and more with each passing performance. While Shirai has done her job as champion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2013,"featured_media":80536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,2192,5,3],"tags":[304,6991,7294],"class_list":["post-87567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wrestling","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-io-shirai","tag-raquel-gonzalez","tag-wwe-analysis"],"modified_by":"Marilee Gallagher, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}