Xia Li Debuts New Gimmick

Written by Inside The Ropes • Published 9th January 2021
Xia Li

Xia Li made her long awaited in-ring return to NXT television at New Year’s Evil, complete with a new gimmick.

NXT’s TakeOver special saw Xia Li and Boa return from their mysterious transformations which we have been seeing over multiple vignettes over the past couple of months. In them, we’ve seen the pair appearing to be under the control of a mysterious organization, several videos have featured both of them being “punished for their failures.”

Both Li and Boa came out with a new entrance theme and new looks, whilst a mystery woman accompanied them to the stage and watched Xia Li’s match from a chair at the top of the ramp.

Xia Li, who has been with the WWE since 2017, competed in singles action and made quick work of her opponent, Katrina Cortez, who is reported to have suffered facial bruising and a possible orbital bone injury from the spin kick delivered by the NXT star.

Li stopped at one point during the match and turned to the mystery woman overlooking from the ramp, then bowed to her. Boa and Li also returned to the mystery woman’s chair after the match and bowed once again leaving us all with a high level of intrigue in to what’s next.

This return was long awaited, with her last televised match taking place in October 2020, a defeat against Kacy Catanzaro where afterwards she would receive a mysterious letter from Boa – setting up the next few months of vignettes.

She competed in the Mae Young Classic in 2017 and 2018, the 2019 WWE Women’s Royal Rumble match and made her debut on NXT television the following month. This incredible transformation is sure to be a success with the WWE Universe seemingly in full support of the new image. Even current WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks took time out to show some love for the reimagined Xia.

Whilst we’re unknown so far where this new gimmick will take Xia, Boa and of course the mystery figure – Xia took to Twitter post-TakeOver to give a warning to the NXT roster – simply saying “We’re Ready!” & “This is just the BEGINNING.”.