Roxanne Perez beat Jaida Parker at No Mercy on Sunday to retain the NXT Women's Championship.

The challenger put up a fight in her first career championship match, but she crashed into a barricade and allowed Perez to hit her patented Pop Rox finisher to retain her title.

Following the match, international women's wrestling star Giulia made her highly anticipated WWE debut by confronting Perez.

Perez won the NXT women's title for a second time at Stand & Deliver back in April, and ever since she took the gold from Lyra Valkyria, she has claimed that there is no woman in NXT capable of beating her for it.

NXT general manager Ava aimed to see if she could prove Perez wrong by setting up an eliminator gauntlet for the No. 1 contendership featuring six Superstars who had never previously challenged for the NXT Women's Championship.

After Brinley Reece, Kendal Grey, Adriana Rizzo and Wren Sinclair were eliminated, the gauntlet came down to Parker and Sol Ruca with Parker scoring the pinfall to earn a title opportunity at No Mercy.

Parker, who starred collegiately at LSU in soccer, has been a fast-rising performer in NXT since competing in the Women's Breakout Tournament in September 2023.

While she had plenty of chances to shine over the past year, Sunday undoubtedly marked the biggest match of Parker's young career to date.

She proved during the build for the bout that she was ready for the spotlight, as she and Perez had a heated confrontation that ended with Parker viciously slapping Roxanne across the face.

At the end of that segment, both Parker and Perez addressed someone who was off camera and never shown, leading to speculation that a big debut was being teased for during or after their match.

Parker ultimately fell short in her first chance to become NXT women's champion, but she showed that she has a bright future and the potential to reach the top of the NXT women's division.

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