Newly-crowned NXT Champion Samoa Joe gloats in his big victory over Finn Bálor, only for former heavyweight champion Eric Young to cut his celebration short. Video courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Much has changed since NXT’s last event in Orlando. All three championships have changed hands, with Samoa Joe standing atop the mountain as NXT Champion. The rest of the roster is scrambling for the right to challenge for the titles, but as NXT becomes the place to be in sports-entertainment, the NXT Superstars are finding themselves competing with new challengers from outside the ranks of WWE.
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New NXT Champion Samoa Joe kicked off the show, making his first appearance at Full Sail University since capturing the title from Finn Bálor two weeks ago in Lowell, Massachusetts. Declaring himself a man of his word, the submission specialist said it was only inevitable that he would be champion. Joe said that if anyone had a problem with him, he would be more than happy to put them in their place.
Those words would soon be put to the test, as Eric Young made his surprise debut! The former heavyweight champion, currently one of the hottest free agents in sports-entertainment and a familiar face from Joe’s past, introduced himself as a collector of championships. Young went onto say that while Joe brought about change, he would change Joe’s fortunes in an instant. The NXT Champion didn’t take kindly to those words, promising to crush Young the next time they crossed paths.