New NXT North American Championship Announced
A ladder match to decide the inaugural champion will take place in New Orleans.
Mar 29, 2018
Last night's episode of NXT saw the announcement of a new NXT North American Championship - although no physical belt was revealed.
General manager William Regal opened the show by announcing the new title, before being interrupted by new NXT signing EC3 (who made his first appearance in the crowd at TakeOver: Philadelphia, having recently jumped from IMPACT Wrestling).
EC3 thanked Regal for creating a new championship especially for him, but Regal revealed that the newcomer will be just one of six men battling to become inaugural champion.
He then booked a ladder match for TakeOver: New Orleans during WrestleMania weekend. Later in the night, the other five contestants were revealed to be Velveteen Dream, Adam Cole, Ricochet, Lars Sullivan, and Killian Dain.
It is thought that the North American Championship will act as a secondary singles title in the men's division, much like the traditional position held by the Intercontinental Championship on the main roster (although its standing in modern history is very much up for debate).
Elsewhere, the team of Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne progressed to the final of the Dusty Rhodes Classic, defeating Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe. They'll be joined by the Authors of Pain, who beat the Street Profits earlier in the night.
Regal also set up a match between Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa for TakeOver: New Orleans, with the stipulation that should Gargano win, he will be reinstated in NXT. If he loses, however, he will be unable to ever return to the brand.