NXT is getting a brand new North American Championship, as announced by NXT General Manager William Regal upon the brand’s return to Full Sail on 7/3. The announcement came as part of the recording for the remainder of March’s shows, taking us right up to NXT TakeOver: New Orleans on 7/4.
The declaration heralded the re-debut of former Impact World Heavyweight Champion EC3, who is seemingly being set up as the next Bobby Roode. Assuming the title had been created especially for him, EC3 was notified otherwise by Regal, told that he would get the chance to compete for the honor at TakeOver in a six-way ladder match against Lars Sullivan, Velveteen Dream, Killian Dain, Adam Cole, and Ricochet.
That bout has the potential to be the highlight of what is shaping up to be an incredible night. I can’t be the only one who immediately thought “630 from the top of the ladder” upon hearing this news.
Some will greet this report with joy, others with derision, bemoaning the introduction of yet another title when the promotion as a whole has a plethora of them. Your writer thinks it can only be a good thing, giving lower card talent something meaningful to scrap over. It is not the first of its kind in the company, however, as a short lived WWWF North American Championship was awarded to Ted DiBiase in 1979 upon his signing with the company.
Other highlights coming out of the tapings:
- Johnny Gargano returned to NXT, attacking Tomasso Ciampa and setting up their long awaited feud (March 21 episode).
- Pete Dunne & Roderick Strong and The Authors of Pain advanced to the final of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (March 21, March 28).
- The Authors of Pain vs Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Final ended in double disqualification when Fish and O’Reilly crashed the party. This led to William Regal announcing a triple threat tag team match between the trio for the Dusty trophy and the NXT Tag Team Championships at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, which should be special (April 4).
- Chris (Donovan) Dijak made his NXT television debut in a loss to Ricochet. All reports state it was a fantastic match (April 4).
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