Rhea Ripley doesn’t often look back. But when she does, there’s one night she’d gladly relive: the December 18, 2019 episode of WWE NXT, when she ended Shayna Baszler’s dominant run and captured the NXT Women’s Championship.
Ripley recently said she’d love to go back to that moment when she dethroned Baszler in singles action. It’s a telling choice. That win wasn’t just a title change; it was a shift in NXT’s landscape and a turning point for Ripley’s career, setting the tone for everything she’s become on the main roster.
The context matters. Baszler was a force of nature in NXT, a champion who bulldozed contenders and defined an era. For over a year, the division revolved around her aura of inevitability. Taking the title from her meant more than a three-count. It meant convincing a fanbase that someone could finally stop the machine.
Ripley spent the back half of 2019 chasing that moment. The rivalry wound through WarGames season, where the story of Ripley’s rise gained steam and the belief in her as a top-tier player took root. By the time she met Baszler for the title on December 18, the chase felt earned. The result felt like a true culmination.
What came after reinforces why that night resonates so strongly. The win established Ripley as one of the definitive superstars to come out of NXT’s USA Network era. It validated her presence, her power-based style, and her ability to carry big-match expectations. When she says she’d go back to that night, it reads like a nod to the moment she proved she belonged at the very top.
For NXT, Ripley’s victory was also a clean reset. The division, long shaped by Baszler’s dominance, opened up overnight. New matchups emerged. New title threats felt plausible. That’s the mark of a significant title change: it changes the board, not just the belt.
This is why Ripley’s reflection has weight beyond nostalgia. In a company where NXT increasingly serves as the launchpad to Raw and SmackDown, that 2019 peak is a blueprint for how to build a main-event-ready talent. The story wasn’t just about winning a belt; it was about convincing fans, in stages, that the next face of the division was here. WarGames made them believe. The December 18 main event made it official.
Look at her path since. Ripley parlayed that credibility into a main roster run that’s made her a central figure on WWE television. She’s captured championships on Raw and SmackDown, headlined marquee events, and anchored The Judgment Day as one of WWE’s most visible acts. The thread runs straight back to NXT: how she was presented, how she delivered under pressure, and how that Baszler victory reframed her ceiling.
Baszler’s side of the story matters too. Her NXT tenure was one of the most dominant in brand history, and dropping the title to Ripley functioned as a torch pass. That’s the value of a long champion—when they finally fall, the person who beats them gets more than a belt; they inherit the credibility of the reign they ended. Baszler later brought her aura to the main roster and continues to be a physical, credible presence. That’s part of why Ripley’s win still resonates: it wasn’t a fluke, it was a statement.
It’s also worth noting how that late-2019 stretch helped define what made NXT’s women’s division special. WarGames gave the division a distinct platform, and stories like Ripley vs. Baszler demonstrated how NXT could build stars by threading big-match showcases with long-form rivalries. When fans talk about the strength of NXT’s women’s roster, this period is a frequent reference point.
For WWE today, a comment like Ripley’s doubles as an advertisement for the pipeline. The company wants fans to see NXT as the foundation, not just a separate brand. Ripley’s rise is proof of concept: start with a big win in NXT, grow into a featured act on Raw or SmackDown, then become one of the company’s defining stars.
It’s easy to see why, of all the career highlights, Ripley would highlight that December 2019 night. It was a pure, crowd-sweeping moment of ascent—the exact kind of scene that anchors a career retrospective years later. It set off everything that followed: a WrestleMania spotlight, multiple world title reigns, and the aura she brings now as a centerpiece attraction.
For fans, revisiting that match underscores how quickly trajectories can change in WWE. One well-timed victory, one decisive moment against the right opponent, and an entire division pivots. That’s what Ripley vs. Baszler did for NXT. By the end of that episode, the brand felt different. The possibilities felt wider.
If Ripley ever does run it back with Baszler on a big stage, the history will be right there—two athletes with deep NXT roots whose careers have traveled in parallel and intersected at key moments. Whether or not that happens, the legacy of their 2019 rivalry remains intact, and its impact is still visible across WWE programming.
So when Ripley says she’d love to return to the moment she took the NXT Women’s Championship, it isn’t just a sentimental pick. It’s the night her trajectory snapped into focus, the night NXT reset its hierarchy, and the night a top-tier WWE star truly announced herself.
Four years on, the ripple effects still matter. That’s why fans remember it—and why Ripley does too.
