***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

The main event of NXT TakeOver: New Orleans was set during this past week’s mammoth tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta when Aleister Black defeated Killian Dain to earn an NXT Title shot at Andrade Cien Almas.

It has been clear for some time that Black is the anointed one in NXT, earmarked by company brass as the future leader of the brand. That was further highlighted by his clean victory over Adam Cole at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia.

But, according to Dave Meltzer, Black was not the originally planned challenger to Almas in New Orleans.

The proposed main event before the company shot two month’s worth of TV in Atlanta was Andrade Cien Almas vs. Lars Sullivan – the 6’3″ juggernaut who has been tearing through everyone in his path of late.

Sullivan did not wrestle at all on the tapings, nor was he even backstage. Furthermore, he has missed all of the developmental brand’s recent live events (he last wrestled on January 6), has not been seen at the Performance Center, and has almost completely disappeared from social media. Other than one random post on February 4, he has been inactive for a full month.

Lars Sullivan is DA MAN

— LarsWWE (@LarsSWWE) February 4, 2018

The reason for Sullivan’s sudden disappearance is unclear, with neither Sullivan nor WWE having made a public statement regarding his status. The obvious answer would be injury or illness – a fairly serious one at that if it has kept him off the radar for a full month. We wish Sullivan all the best regardless, and hope to see him back in NXT rings soon.

 

***UPDATE***

It has since been revealed that Sullivan’s absence was down to a knee injury and an “undisclosed” health issue

• philadelphia
• Aleister Black
• TakeOver
• Andrade Almas
• andrade cien almas
• New Orleans
• Lars Sullivan
• Killian Dain
• nxt
• wwe

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