Tiffany Stratton And Lyra Valkyria Advance In WWE NXT Women's Title Tournament

In the wake of her main roster call-up, Indi Hartwell relinquished her "WWE NXT" Women's Championship last week, which meant that someone else must now step up in her place. On this week's "NXT," an eight-woman tournament began as WWE looks to crown its new "NXT" Women's Champion at Battleground later this month. 

On Tuesday, two women moved on to the semifinals. In the opening match of the evening, Tiffany Stratton took on former "NXT" Women's Tag Team Champion Gigi Dolin in the first quarterfinal match. Dolin put up a valiant effort, but Stratton landed the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to secure the victory. Later in the show, Lyra Valkyria punched her own ticket to the semifinals as she defeated Kiana James with a spinning back heel kick.

The other two opening-round matches will take place on next week's episode of "NXT." The left side of the bracket will see Roxanne Perez battle Jacy Jayne, while Cora Jade and Fallon Henley face off in the other first-round match. If Perez and Jade were to prevail in their respective matches, fans could witness the former "NXT" Tag Team Champions and friends-turned-foes renew their rivalry in the semifinals. After ending their rivalry in a Weapons Wild Match at Halloween Havoc last October, the two women have crossed paths several times in multi-person matches but have not wrestled in a singles bout at any televised events.

Meanwhile, Stratton and Valkyria have shared the ring only once thus far, during the 6-Way Ladder Match at last month's Stand & Deliver. As such, fans will witness a first-time-ever singles bout in the first of the two semifinals.

Besides Perez vs. Jane and Jade vs. Henley, the confirmed lineup for next week's show includes two tag team matches — The Dyad (Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid) vs. The Creed Brothers and Wes Lee and Tyler Bate vs. Charlie Dempsey and Drew Gulak.