As previously reported, immediately following last night's TakeOver: Stand And Deliver Night Two, WWE COO Triple H had a Post-Show Media Call, where he talked about a number of topics, including why they made the decision for Raquel Gonzalez to beat "The Genius Of The Sky" Io Shirai for her title.
Triple H said, “I’ve said it a lot in these calls, I’ve said it a lot in press, and not because I’m trying to hype the brand but because I truly believe it: I believe Io Shirai is the best female performer on the face of the planet.” “I truly believe that. I can’t say enough good stuff about her. She’s had a monumental reign. Why Raquel Gonzalez? Right woman, right time. She’s got a presence. When you see her, it’s hard not to think that she’s a star. It’s interesting that that’s all been within the last year, year and a half. You look at the transition of her debuting with Dakota Kai to where she is now, from stature to look to physique to just everything, she has capitalized on every second of every moment. Transformed herself into an absolute star. I think she’s just nicking the surface. Why her? She put herself in the position for it to be her.”
Triple H then talked about Io Shirai's future with NXT as titleholders who usually lose huge matchups has made their way to the main roster, but Triple H said it's completely up to the former NXT Women’s Champion.
Triple H said, “Io Shirai has earned the right to do what she wants to do.” “To me, if Io Shirai wants to take time off, she takes time off. If she wants to come back and go after Raquel Gonzalez, she’s earned that right. If she wants to do something else for a bit, or any of that, she’s earned the right to do all of it. It’s an interesting thing here where whenever somebody loses in NXT, they’re so dominant, they’re so big, they’re so whatever. They have this incredible run. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a bump in the road. They lose a match. Then everybody goes, ‘Clearly they’re going someplace else.’ Why is that? It’s just a funny thing, because anybody in the world loses someplace else, nobody goes, ‘Oh, they’re going someplace else.’ There’s always more to do. There’s always more to proving you’re the best. There’s the next challenge. The next competitor. There’s the next all of those things. For me, it’s whatever Io wants to do, but I don’t see that as she lost one match over the past three hundred something days she’s been champion, all of a sudden she’s just moving on.”
